Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock Price Up 0.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) shares traded up 0.5% during trading on Monday after Susquehanna raised their price target on the stock from $70.00 to $81.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as high as $67.09 and last traded at $66.94. 2,096,622 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 8,719,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.63.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Raymond James cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho raised their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Scotiabank raised Occidental Petroleum from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $63.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.94.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 243,715,804 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,552,271,000 after acquiring an additional 19,586,612 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,021,929 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $779,983,000 after acquiring an additional 2,334,651 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 600.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,242,910 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $145,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,656 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,995,258 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $357,977,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,052 shares during the period. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 2,340,465 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $139,749,000 after acquiring an additional 797,894 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 50-day moving average price is $63.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $59.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14 and a beta of 1.64.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 20.63%. The company had revenue of $7.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 22.51%.

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.