Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $49.4762.

OXY has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. HSBC lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 1.0%

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $42.74 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.38. The company has a market capitalization of $42.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.43 and a beta of 0.38. Occidental Petroleum has a 52 week low of $34.78 and a 52 week high of $52.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 12.35%. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 218,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,533,228.74. This trade represents a 2.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OXY. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. City Holding Co. boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 250.0% during the 3rd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter worth $35,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,193.9% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 854 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental’s operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.