Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) will release earnings results for the third quarter, after the closing bell, on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Analysts expect the Houston-based company to report quarterly earnings at 74 cents per share. That's down from $1.18 per share in the year-ago period. Occidental Petroleum projects to report quarterly revenue of $7.23 billion. Last year, revenue hovered $7.21 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

On Nov. 8, JPMorgan analyst John Royall reinstated Occidental Petroleum with a Neutral and announced a $56 price target.

With the recent buzz around Occidental Petroleum ahead of quarterly earnings, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company's dividends too. As of now, Occidental Petroleum offers an annual dividend yield of 1.73% — a quarterly dividend amount of 22 cents per share (88 cents a year).

To figure out how to earn $500 monthly from Occidental Petroleum, we start with the yearly target of $6,000 ($500 x 12 months).

Next, we take this amount and divide it by Occidental Petroleum's $0.88 dividend: $6,000 / $0.88 = 6,818 shares.

So, an investor would need to own approximately $346,423 worth of Occidental Petroleum, or 6,818 shares to generate a monthly dividend income of $500.

Assuming a more conservative goal of $100 monthly ($1,200 annually), we do the same calculation: $1,200 / $0.88 = 1,364 shares, or $69,305 to generate a monthly dividend income of $100.

Note that dividend yield can change on a rolling basis, as the dividend payment and the stock price both fluctuate over time.

The dividend yield is calculated by dividing the annual dividend payment by the current stock price. As the stock price changes, the dividend yield will also change.

For example, if a stock pays an annual dividend of $2 and its current price is $50, its dividend yield would be 4%. However, if the stock price increases to $60, the dividend yield would decrease to 3.33% ($2/$60).

Conversely, if the stock price decreases to $40, the dividend yield would increase to 5% ($2/$40).

Further, the dividend payment itself can also change over time, which can also impact the dividend yield. If a company increases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will increase even if the stock price remains the same. Similarly, if a company decreases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will decrease.

OXY Price Action: Shares of Occidental Petroleum gained by 0.6% to close at $50.81 on Monday.

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