Occidental Petroleum Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:OXY)

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 147,348 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 59% compared to the typical daily volume of 92,584 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on OXY shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $58.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.10.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $47.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.04. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $45.17 and a one year high of $71.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.92%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 2,477,362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $46.25 per share, with a total value of $114,577,992.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 257,758,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,921,348,477.50. This trade represents a 0.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 773,762 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $39,880,000 after purchasing an additional 51,042 shares during the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,002,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1.8% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 149,387 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,699,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 13.2% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 57,365 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,957,000 after acquiring an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,247.7% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 50,486 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,602,000 after acquiring an additional 46,740 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.