Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Down 0.3% – Time to Sell?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price dropped 0.3% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $47.59 and last traded at $47.81. Approximately 1,837,940 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 9,874,413 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on OXY shares. Raymond James downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.45.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $48.68 and its 200 day moving average is $50.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $44.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51 and a beta of 1.51.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.