Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Down 0.7% – Here’s Why

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) were down 0.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $48.60 and last traded at $49.04. Approximately 1,563,091 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 10,204,890 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.36.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OXY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.82.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.22 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.84.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,053,055,000 after purchasing an additional 8,896,890 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,365,992,000 after acquiring an additional 10,434,098 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $701,816,000 after acquiring an additional 398,467 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,065,061 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $349,085,000 after purchasing an additional 491,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $314,133,000 after buying an additional 1,278,389 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.