Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock Price Down 0.4%

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price traded down 0.4% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $62.61 and last traded at $62.98. 1,366,117 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 8,081,040 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.25.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Scotiabank raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $63.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. HSBC started coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “hold” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.56.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.14 and a 200-day moving average of $61.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 1.59.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.50% and a net margin of 15.62%. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 24.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 1,386,844 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.67 per share, with a total value of $82,752,981.48. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 250,583,605 shares in the company, valued at $14,952,323,710.35. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 4,656,747 shares of company stock valued at $278,664,028. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Keynote Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,156,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 114,844 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,431,000 after buying an additional 4,332 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 44,813 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,912,000 after acquiring an additional 14,546 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 91,676 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $5,957,000 after acquiring an additional 3,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at about $12,547,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.