Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock Price Up 2.3% After Dividend Announcement

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) shot up 2.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $51.68 and last traded at $51.57. 6,573,401 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 9,148,315 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.40.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on OXY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.72.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 2.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.66 and a beta of 1.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $52.44 and its 200 day moving average is $58.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 6,850 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 9,088 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 27,519 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 17,592 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. 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.