Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Given New $69.00 Price Target at Stephens

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price target lowered by Stephens from $73.00 to $69.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

OXY has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.26.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of OXY stock opened at $54.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $54.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 0.15. Occidental Petroleum has a 1 year low of $38.80 and a 1 year high of $67.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $54.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.75.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.46. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 19.98%.The business had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 5.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 26.20%.

Insider Activity

In other Occidental Petroleum news, CEO Richard A. Jackson acquired 4,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 444,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,261,853.24. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,900,677 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,696,716,000 after buying an additional 699,137 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,539,743 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,635,263,000 after buying an additional 828,848 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,846,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $771,949,000 after acquiring an additional 167,518 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,602,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $436,008,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,721 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $276,772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071,948 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.