Occidental Petroleum Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:OXY)

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 134,743 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 177% compared to the average volume of 48,613 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, CEO Richard Jackson acquired 4,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares in the company, valued at $23,261,853.24. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Portus Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Ballast Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE:OXY traded up $0.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $61.38. 8,937,056 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,512,039. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.16. Occidental Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $38.80 and a fifty-two week high of $67.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The business’s revenue was up 53.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum will post 6.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 16.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on OXY shares. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 17th. Zacks Research downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.83.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

Occidental Petroleum Corporation is an energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas. Its operations are concentrated primarily in the United States, including the Permian and DJ basins, and it also has international activities in regions such as the Middle East and North Africa.

The company operates through oil and gas, chemical and midstream and marketing businesses. Its chemical segment, OxyChem, manufactures and markets chlor-alkali products, vinyls and other basic chemicals used in water treatment, construction, industrial manufacturing and consumer products.