Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Raises Dividend to $0.24 Per Share

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Occidental Petroleum has raised its dividend by an average of 180.2% per year over the last three years. Occidental Petroleum has a payout ratio of 21.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Occidental Petroleum to earn $3.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.0%.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of OXY stock opened at $51.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Occidental Petroleum has a 12 month low of $45.17 and a 12 month high of $71.18.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.63%. Analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $58.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 3,614,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This trade represents a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.