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

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 96,009 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 121% compared to the average volume of 43,480 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on OXY. Roth Capital raised Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 10th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.71.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 2.8%

OXY traded up $1.69 on Friday, reaching $62.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,593,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,255,159. The company has a market capitalization of $62.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.24. Occidental Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $38.80 and a fifty-two week high of $67.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.28.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th were given a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change 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 17.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

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

Occidental Petroleum News Roundup

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.

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.