BMO Capital Markets Cuts Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target to $48.00

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price target reduced by BMO Capital Markets from $50.00 to $48.00 in a report issued on Monday,MarketScreener reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

OXY has been the topic of several other reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. HSBC decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.48.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock traded down $1.14 on Monday, reaching $43.18. The company had a trading volume of 14,129,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,249,895. The firm has a market cap of $42.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.75 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.38. Occidental Petroleum has a 1 year low of $34.78 and a 1 year high of $52.78.

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

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Klesse bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 218,913 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 10.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,504,019 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,718,054,000 after buying an additional 8,273,030 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,089,878 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $756,796,000 after acquiring an additional 3,267,269 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1,029.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,493,747 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $70,580,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,541 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 134.3% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,815,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $85,798,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 11.5% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,718,939 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $412,045,000 after purchasing an additional 900,677 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.