William Klesse Buys 5,000 Shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) Director William Klesse bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the purchase, the director owned 218,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,533,228.74. The trade was a 2.34% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of OXY stock traded up $1.73 on Wednesday, reaching $40.65. The stock had a trading volume of 13,895,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,228,240. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.94. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.78 and a 1 year high of $53.20. The stock has a market cap of $40.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.74.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.66 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.35% and a net margin of 7.81%.Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.59%.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 12,302 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 4.2% during the first quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 7,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 79.2% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,610 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 2,037 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,175,439 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $354,180,000 after purchasing an additional 110,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 127,877 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,312,000 after purchasing an additional 19,645 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OXY has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Mizuho raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Melius started coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.95.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.