Stephens Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY)

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by analysts at Stephens in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $71.00 price objective on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 36.13% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.90.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:OXY opened at $52.16 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.94 billion, a PE ratio of 21.38 and a beta of 1.55. Occidental Petroleum has a 1-year low of $45.17 and a 1-year high of $71.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $49.14 and its 200-day moving average is $51.45.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 11.37%. Sell-side analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders purchased a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after acquiring an additional 10,434,098 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,053,055,000 after acquiring an additional 8,896,890 shares during the period. H&H International Investment LLC grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% in the third quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $475,389,000 after acquiring an additional 7,680,598 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% in the fourth quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $95,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,491 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $203,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337,728 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.