Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Down 0.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) traded down 0.1% on Friday after Scotiabank lowered their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $80.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as low as $61.14 and last traded at $61.42. 824,093 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 7,858,846 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.48.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on OXY. Barclays assumed coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. HSBC assumed coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 1,386,844 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $82,752,981.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 250,583,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,952,323,710.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 4,656,747 shares of company stock valued at $278,664,028. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. CapWealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 2.7% during the first quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,105 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,503 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 75.2% in the 1st quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 2.6% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 6,850 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% during the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 20,911 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $54.28 billion, a PE ratio of 16.73 and a beta of 1.61.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.50% and a net margin of 15.62%. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue was down 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.04%.

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.