Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $62.94, but opened at $57.17. Occidental Petroleum shares last traded at $58.3090, with a volume of 9,521,547 shares traded.

Trending Headlines about Occidental Petroleum

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

• Positive Sentiment: BMO raised its price target to $65 from $60, signaling modest upside while keeping a “market perform” rating — a tailwind but not a full buy endorsement. MarketScreener
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple momentum screens (Zacks lists, etc.) have OXY as a top momentum pick, which can attract short-term buying and algorithmic flows. Zacks: Best Momentum Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Geopolitical-driven oil strength (coverage of the Iran conflict) has been a key fundamental driver supporting Occidental’s rally and prospects for higher near-term cash flow. Fool: Why OXY Rallied
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and industry write-ups note operational positives (Permian scale, CrownRock, debt paydown) but flag slower ROE and mixed fundamentals — a mixed read that tempers a clear buy case. Zacks: Outperforms Industry
• Negative Sentiment: Several pieces question whether OXY has “run too far” after a large one‑year rally; elevated valuation metrics and recent profit-taking make the stock vulnerable to pullbacks. Yahoo: Has OXY Run Too Far?

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the subject of several research reports. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.74.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 6.5%

The firm has a market cap of $58.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.56 and a beta of 0.23. The business’s 50-day moving average is $53.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 9.89%. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 64.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,900,677 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,696,716,000 after acquiring an additional 699,137 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,539,743 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,635,263,000 after acquiring an additional 828,848 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,846,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $771,949,000 after acquiring an additional 167,518 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,602,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $436,008,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,721 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $276,772,000 after buying an additional 1,071,948 shares during the last quarter. 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.