Analyzing Short Interest in Occidental Petroleum Stock

On December 30, 2016, Occidental Petroleum’s (OXY) total shares shorted (or short interest) stood at ~12.4 million, whereas its average daily volume was ~3.3 million. This meant that OXY’s short interest ratio was ~3.7x. The 52-week range for OXY’s short interest ratio is 1.9x–5.3x.

When looked at from the perspective of shares outstanding, the current short interest in OXY’s stock as a percentage of its shares outstanding is on the lower side at ~1.6%, compared to all other upstream companies from the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP).

As seen in the above chart, short interest in Occidental Petroleum’s stock as a percentage of its shares outstanding has fallen from ~2.3% to ~1.6%, despite a ~2% fall in its stock price since the first week of November 2016.

Other upstream companies California Resources (CRC), Devon Energy (DVN), and Encana (ECA) have short interests as percentages of their shares outstanding of ~27%, ~2%, and ~2%, respectively.

The Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3X ETF (ERX) is a leveraged ETF that invests in domestic companies from the energy sector.