Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on OXY. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.19.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OXY opened at $52.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.62 and a 200 day moving average of $53.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $49.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 1.57. Occidental Petroleum has a 52 week low of $45.17 and a 52 week high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 22.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rule One Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter valued at about $14,199,000. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 221.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 15,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 10,382 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,509,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 70,580 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,638,000 after purchasing an additional 15,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,247.7% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 50,486 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,602,000 after purchasing an additional 46,740 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.