Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target Cut to $51.00 by Analysts at Susquehanna

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at Susquehanna from $55.00 to $51.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “positive” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Susquehanna’s price target points to a potential upside of 16.08% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on OXY. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.38.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of OXY stock traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $43.94. The company had a trading volume of 3,478,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,589,472. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.33. Occidental Petroleum has a 52-week low of $34.78 and a 52-week high of $52.58. The stock has a market cap of $43.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.31 and a beta of 0.38.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.16. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William R. Klesse purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were purchased 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 57,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,817,000 after buying an additional 16,506 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 88.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,089 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 3,806 shares during the period. Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $229,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 0.7% in the second quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 79,698 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,348,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 173.2% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 29,087 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 18,441 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is 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.