StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY)

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY – Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

OXY has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Roth Capital reiterated a neutral rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Bank of America upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded Occidental Petroleum from an in-line rating to an underperform rating and reduced their target price for the company from $74.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $76.17.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of OXY opened at $58.48 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. Occidental Petroleum has a 12 month low of $51.53 and a 12 month high of $77.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $62.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.35. The firm has a market cap of $52.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.72, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.77.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.22). Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 35.87% and a return on equity of 52.68%. The business had revenue of $8.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 97.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum will post 6.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 5.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 1,678,017 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $61.56 per share, with a total value of $103,298,726.52. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 198,392,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,213,057,997.80. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders purchased 8,705,002 shares of company stock valued at $519,305,954 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Amundi lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 40.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 5,384,566 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $308,156,000 after buying an additional 1,537,686 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,035,799 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $285,732,000 after buying an additional 118,928 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth about $267,173,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,494,359 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $214,728,000 after buying an additional 862,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,381,730 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $213,011,000 after buying an additional 102,903 shares during the last quarter. 78.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Occidental Petroleum

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Occidental Petroleum Corp. engages in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids and natural gas.