Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Receives $55.81 Average PT from Analysts

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.81.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 target price on Occidental Petroleum and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 8,896,890 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% during the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $95,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,491 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $203,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,278,389 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE OXY opened at $39.72 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $45.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.55. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $68.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $37.33 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.02.

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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

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.