Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Up 4.8% - Time to Buy?

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) shares shot up 4.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $45.30 and last traded at $45.42. 4,425,413 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 11,787,981 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on OXY shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $47.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Occidental Petroleum to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Stephens cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.38.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 5.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $42.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.33. The stock has a market cap of $44.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 0.84.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.97 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business's revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.02%.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of OXY. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $642,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after buying an additional 10,434,098 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,596,699 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $78,813,000 after buying an additional 140,528 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $314,133,000 after buying an additional 1,278,389 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,065,061 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $349,085,000 after acquiring an additional 491,797 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company's stock.

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.