Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Up 1.6% – Should You Buy?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price shot up 1.6% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $46.32 and last traded at $46.18. 3,200,248 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 11,147,556 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.45.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on OXY. UBS Group upped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.68.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 3,614,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This trade represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have bought a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 in the last three months. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $1,144,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $486,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 43,293 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,139,000 after buying an additional 10,003 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,284,000. Finally, Landaas & Co. WI ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $217,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.