Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Up 1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 1% on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $46.00 to $48.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as high as $42.20 and last traded at $41.87. 3,406,602 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 11,007,685 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.44.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on OXY. StockNews.com cut Occidental Petroleum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Hsbc Global Res raised Occidental Petroleum to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $54.05.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 129.2% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 722 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 2.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $39.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $42.96 and a 200-day moving average of $47.22.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 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 $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Occidental Petroleum's payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

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.