Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Raises Dividend to $0.24 Per Share

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Occidental Petroleum has increased its dividend payment by an average of 180.2% annually over the last three years. Occidental Petroleum has a payout ratio of 23.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Occidental Petroleum to earn $3.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.9%.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of OXY traded down $1.68 on Friday, reaching $50.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,869,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,665,110. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 1.55. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $49.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.37. Occidental Petroleum has a 12-month low of $45.17 and a 12-month high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.14 billion. Research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $56.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.55.

About Occidental Petroleum

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.