Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY)

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 116,673 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 46% compared to the average daily volume of 80,070 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 3,614,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. The trade was a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders purchased a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 over the last three months. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 160.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 494 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of OXY opened at $51.00 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50-day moving average is $49.06 and its 200-day moving average is $51.44. Occidental Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $45.17 and a fifty-two week high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 15.89%. Equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on OXY. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.71.

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.