Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Down 0.8% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) traded down 0.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $51.63 and last traded at $51.67. 1,364,890 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 9,105,604 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OXY has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of 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, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.72.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $53.83 and its 200 day moving average is $59.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $46.50 billion, a PE ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 1.57.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $6.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. CapWealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.7% during the first quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,105 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.0% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,503 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $553,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 75.2% during the first quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 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.