Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.9524.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on OXY shares. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price target (down from $51.00) on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Monday, December 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 218,913 shares in the company, valued at $8,533,228.74. This trade represents a 2.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1.5% in the third quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 15,555 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 0.4% in the first quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 58,549 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,890,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.8% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,720 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 32,734 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after buying an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.3% in the third quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 6,809 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:OXY opened at $40.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $39.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.47 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.94. Occidental Petroleum has a 52-week low of $34.78 and a 52-week high of $53.20.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.16. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 12.35%. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.59%.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental’s operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.