Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $43.78 and last traded at $43.88, with a volume of 24958091 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $49.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.82.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 7.4 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 1.51. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $47.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.71.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.34%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,053,055,000 after purchasing an additional 8,896,890 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,365,992,000 after buying an additional 10,434,098 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $701,816,000 after acquiring an additional 398,467 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,065,061 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $349,085,000 after acquiring an additional 491,797 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $314,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.