Short Interest in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) Declines By 12.6%

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 28,846,904 shares, a decrease of 12.6% from the February 12th total of 33,000,202 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 14,530,603 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Based on an average daily volume of 14,530,603 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on OXY shares. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.67.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OXY opened at $57.30 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.67. Occidental Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $34.78 and a fifty-two week high of $59.15. The company has a market capitalization of $56.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.59 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 9.89%. The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.60%.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 68.5% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 750 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 155.0% during the 4th quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 765 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Binnacle Investments Inc acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.