Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

Key Points

• Call-option activity surged: Traders bought 96,009 OXY call options, 121% above the typical volume of 43,480, signaling heightened bullish interest.
• Institutional ownership remains high: Hedge funds and other institutions own 88.7% of Occidental Petroleum, with Assenagon Asset Management increasing its stake by 67.4% during the third quarter.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but improving: Roth Capital, Weiss Ratings, Goldman Sachs, and Seaport Research Partners issued or maintained bullish views, while the broader consensus remains “Hold” with a $66.71 price target. OXY recently traded at $62.36 after reporting better-than-expected earnings and raising its quarterly dividend to $0.28.

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 96,009 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 121% compared to the typical volume of 43,480 call options.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OXY. Avail Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth about $352,000. Aspiriant LLC increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 9,513 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $526,000 after buying an additional 1,252 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 6,266 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 67.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,849,248 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $157,620,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Oklahoma acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter valued at approximately $216,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Occidental Petroleum this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Roth Capital upgraded OXY from “neutral” to “buy” and assigned a $70 price target. The target implies meaningful upside from the stock’s recent trading level and is the strongest direct bullish catalyst in the latest coverage.
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target from $69 to $71 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, indicating greater valuation support despite a cautious overall stance.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Zacks highlighted Occidental’s history of earnings surprises and the combination of estimate revisions and earnings trends that could support another quarterly beat. Will Occidental Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary pointing to Occidental’s valuation and potential undervaluation may be attracting value-focused investors. The company’s latest reported quarter also showed substantial year-over-year revenue and earnings growth.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seaport Research Partners began coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Occidental Petroleum from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $63.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $66.71.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of OXY stock traded up $1.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $62.36. 11,593,716 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,255,159. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.40 and a 200 day moving average of $57.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Occidental Petroleum has a 52-week low of $38.80 and a 52-week high of $67.45. The company has a market cap of $62.34 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.24.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 53.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Occidental Petroleum's payout ratio is presently 17.34%.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, commonly known as Oxy, is an energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas. Its upstream operations are concentrated in the United States, including the Permian and Denver-Julesburg basins, and in selected international regions such as the Middle East and North Africa.

The company also operates midstream and marketing businesses that support the gathering, processing, transportation and sale of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

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