Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading 1.4% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price rose 1.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $42.00 to $47.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as high as $42.80 and last traded at $43.03. Approximately 2,900,078 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 11,623,489 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.42.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.38.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 129.2% in the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 722 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 1.2%

The company has a market cap of $41.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.34 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.51.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.97 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.02%.

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.