Occidental Petroleum Co. (OXY) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 10th

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 25th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of 0.22 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th.

Occidental Petroleum has decreased its dividend by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years. Occidental Petroleum has a payout ratio of 18.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Occidental Petroleum to earn $4.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.2%.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 3.2 %

OXY stock opened at $52.03 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Occidental Petroleum has a 1-year low of $51.79 and a 1-year high of $71.18. The stock has a market cap of $46.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22 and a beta of 1.58.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 16.62%. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on OXY. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum 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 stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other 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 stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 765,899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $60.28 per share, with a total value of $46,168,391.72. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 252,333,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,210,688,275.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 2,745,563 shares of company stock worth $164,581,732 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.