Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target Lowered to $63.00 at Evercore ISI

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price target reduced by Evercore ISI from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an underperform rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $65.00 to $56.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $68.25.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $53.45 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60 and a beta of 1.58. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $49.75 and a one year high of $71.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.26. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.62% and a return on equity of 17.91%. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth about $10,331,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,975,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth approximately $12,547,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter valued at approximately $970,000. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 20.1% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,661,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $104,707,000 after buying an additional 277,462 shares during the period. 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.