Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) CEO Acquires 4,770 Shares

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) CEO Richard Jackson purchased 4,770 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 444,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,261,853.24. This represents a 1.09% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

OXY stock traded down $1.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $51.08. 7,825,709 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,854,627. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1-year low of $38.80 and a 1-year high of $67.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.67. The firm has a market cap of $50.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.87 and a beta of 0.14.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.46. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 19.98% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,900,677 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,696,716,000 after acquiring an additional 699,137 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,539,743 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,635,263,000 after purchasing an additional 828,848 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,846,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $771,949,000 after purchasing an additional 167,518 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,602,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $436,008,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $276,772,000 after buying an additional 1,071,948 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on OXY shares. Argus raised Occidental Petroleum to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Barclays raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $59.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.74.

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.