Stephens Cuts Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target to $58.00

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price target dropped by Stephens from $60.00 to $58.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Stephens’ target price indicates a potential upside of 50.77% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on OXY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 target price on Occidental Petroleum and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Raymond James cut Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.81.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 1.8 %

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $38.47 on Tuesday. Occidental Petroleum has a twelve month low of $34.79 and a twelve month high of $68.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.92 and a 200-day moving average of $48.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77 and a beta of 1.02.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The company's Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas.