Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Up 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price shot up 1.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $54.75 and last traded at $54.64. 1,958,855 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 9,096,682 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.90.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on OXY. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.29.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.30. The company has a market cap of $48.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.96 and a beta of 1.57. 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 issued its 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 firm had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.62% and a return on equity of 17.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum 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 shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value 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 $5,923,116,413.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OXY. CapWealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.7% in the first quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,105 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $397,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,503 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $553,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 75.2% during the 1st quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 2.6% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 6,850 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $445,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% in the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 20,911 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.