Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY)

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 93,733 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 71% compared to the typical volume of 54,972 call options.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, Director William R. Klesse purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 218,913 shares in the company, valued at $8,533,228.74. This trade represents a 2.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OXY. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. City Holding Co. boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 250.0% in the third quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1,193.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 854 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

OXY traded up $1.04 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,619,274 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,150,571. Occidental Petroleum has a 12 month low of $34.78 and a 12 month high of $53.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.47 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.16. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 12.35%. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on OXY shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.95.

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.