StockNews.com Lowers Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) to Sell

StockNews.com lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an outperform rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $71.60.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of OXY opened at $51.64 on Thursday. Occidental Petroleum has a 1-year low of $49.90 and a 1-year high of $71.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.26. The stock has a market cap of $45.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 1.58.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 16.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth $12,547,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 139.4% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 78,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,104,000 after acquiring an additional 45,722 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $763,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 143.2% in the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 36,475 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,178,000 after purchasing an additional 21,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 904,081 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,757,000 after purchasing an additional 8,863 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The company's Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas.