Morgan Stanley Cuts Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target to $50.00

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $51.00 to $50.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on OXY. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price target (down previously from $51.00) on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.57.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $44.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.45 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.33. Occidental Petroleum has a 52-week low of $34.78 and a 52-week high of $52.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 12.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 70.59%.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse acquired 5,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.98 per share, with a total value of $194,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 218,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,533,228.74. The trade was a 2.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,504,019 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,718,054,000 after purchasing an additional 8,273,030 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 22.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,089,878 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $756,796,000 after buying an additional 3,267,269 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1,029.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,493,747 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $70,580,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,541 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 134.3% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,815,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $85,798,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,718,939 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $412,045,000 after acquiring an additional 900,677 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.