Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.26

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of 0.26 per share by the oil and gas producer on Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a 8.3% increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Occidental Petroleum has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 5 years. Occidental Petroleum has a dividend payout ratio of 30.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 NYSE:OXY traded up $3.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $50.52. 13,708,333 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,658,763. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.05 and a 200 day moving average of $43.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $49.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.86 and a beta of 0.41. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $34.78 and a one year high of $52.58.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 12.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on OXY shares. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $51.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays began coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.48.

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.