Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $42.00 to $47.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as high as $56.34 and last traded at $54.4060, with a volume of 11568819 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.08.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse bought 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, with a total value of $194,900.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 218,913 shares in the company, valued at $8,533,228.74. This trade represents a 2.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 224.2% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 7,859 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 5,435 shares during the last quarter. MidFirst Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth $91,000. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 26,071 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,242 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $276,772,000 after buying an additional 1,071,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 2.4%

The stock has a market cap of $53.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.79 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average of $44.69 and a 200-day moving average of $43.92.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 9.89%. The company had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 59.63%.

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.