Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Upgraded by Seaport Research Partners to Strong-Buy Rating

Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning,Zacks reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.83.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $60.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.42. 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 twelve month low of $38.80 and a twelve month high of $67.45. The company has a market capitalization of $60.52 billion, a PE ratio of 9.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.16.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $8.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 28.36%.Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.10%.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, CEO Richard Jackson purchased 4,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 444,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,261,853.24. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,084,356 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,589,000 after purchasing an additional 124,879 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $12,868,205,000. Hosking Partners LLP boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 577,368 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $23,741,000 after purchasing an additional 27,030 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,168,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $140,947,000 after purchasing an additional 145,100 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $10,041,000. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.