By Connor Hart
Occidental Petroleum swung to a loss in the fourth quarter as sales declined, hurt by its chemical and midstream and marketing businesses.
The oil-and-gas producer on Tuesday posted a loss of $297 million, or 32 cents a share, compared with a profit of $1.03 billion, or $1.08 a share, a year earlier.
The quarter included $1.1 billion in after-tax items, mainly consisting of booking a long-term environmental liability increase based on a recent federal court ruling, the company said.
Adjusted per-share earnings came in at 80 cents, topping the 68 cents that analysts surveyed by FactSet expected.
Revenue fell 9.2% to $6.84 billion. Analysts were looking for $6.98 billion, according to FactSet.
The company's oil and gas unit notches sales of $5.62 billion, up from $5.42 billion a year earlier. The increase offset its chemical division, where sales edged lower but were mostly flat, and its midstream and marketing segment, where sales fell to $141 million from $632 million last year.
Also on Tuesday, Occidental raised its dividend 9%, to 24 cents a share. The new payout, equal to 96 cents a share, represents an annual yield of nearly 2% based on its closing price of $48.84.
The higher dividend will be paid April 15 to shareholders of record as of March 10, the company said.
Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 18, 2025 17:00 ET (22:00 GMT)
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