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

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

OXY has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (down previously from $51.00) on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Monday, December 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.95.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

NYSE:OXY opened at $41.24 on Friday. Occidental Petroleum has a 52 week low of $34.78 and a 52 week high of $53.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.41. The company has a market capitalization of $40.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.32 and a beta of 0.38. 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 released 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. The business 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%.The company’s revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, Director William R. Klesse bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 218,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,533,228.74. This represents a 2.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of OXY. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 13.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,692,649 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $132,909,000 after purchasing an additional 319,430 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 77,703 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,835,000 after buying an additional 25,576 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 172.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 773,679 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $38,181,000 after acquiring an additional 489,767 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 835,657 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $41,248,000 after acquiring an additional 40,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 56,922 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,810,000 after acquiring an additional 4,600 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.