Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Up 2.5% Following Dividend Announcement

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) traded up 2.5% on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $40.74 and last traded at $40.40. Approximately 3,196,636 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 10,859,832 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.41.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on OXY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $42.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.19.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 0.4 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.65.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 10,434,098 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,896,890 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% during the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $95,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,491 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $203,459,000 after buying an additional 1,337,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $314,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.