Citigroup Cuts Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target to $51.00

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price objective cut by Citigroup from $56.00 to $51.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Raymond James lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.45.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE OXY opened at $47.96 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $48.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66 and a beta of 1.51. Occidental Petroleum has a 52-week low of $44.70 and a 52-week high of $71.19.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.