Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Down 1.2% After Analyst Downgrade

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) traded down 1.2% during mid-day trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $53.00 to $52.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as low as $51.17 and last traded at $51.47. 3,806,167 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 10,441,687 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.09.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on OXY. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.90.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434,098 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,053,055,000 after purchasing an additional 8,896,890 shares during the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% in the 3rd quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $475,389,000 after acquiring an additional 7,680,598 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% in the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $95,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $203,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337,728 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $47.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.41.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.07%.

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.