Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock Price Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) were up 1.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $48.22 and last traded at $48.19. Approximately 1,703,103 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 9,852,677 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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 price is $48.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.11. 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 company has a market cap of $44.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434,098 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 8,896,890 shares in the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% during the third quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $475,389,000 after acquiring an additional 7,680,598 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $203,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,728 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.