Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXYFree Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on OXY. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Stephens cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.87.

Read Our Latest Research Report on OXY

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 4.7%

Shares of OXY stock opened at $58.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.15. Occidental Petroleum has a 12-month low of $38.80 and a 12-month high of $67.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $54.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.59.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXYGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 53.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.10%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, CEO Richard A. Jackson acquired 4,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,261,853.24. This represents a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter valued at about $4,546,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,199,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at about $259,000. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter valued at about $234,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

About Occidental Petroleum

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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.

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Analyst Recommendations for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY)

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