Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading 1.8% Higher – Time to Buy?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) shares traded up 1.8% on Monday . The company traded as high as $38.77 and last traded at $38.34. 3,963,586 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 10,762,493 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OXY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Raymond James lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.71.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.04. The company has a market capitalization of $35.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 1.02.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given 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 dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 8.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 103,072 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,312,000 after acquiring an additional 7,882 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 5,797 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC increased its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1,181.3% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 65,437 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,373,000 after purchasing an additional 60,330 shares in the last quarter. Rule One Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,199,000. Finally, PVG Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter valued at about $411,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.