Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXYGet Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

OXY has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Argus raised Occidental Petroleum to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.62.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on OXY

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of OXY stock opened at $53.65 on Monday. Occidental Petroleum has a 1 year low of $34.78 and a 1 year high of $56.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.91 billion, a PE ratio of 33.32 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXYGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 9.89%. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William R. Klesse bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were 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 directly owned 218,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,533,228.74. This trade represents a 2.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,900,677 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,696,716,000 after buying an additional 699,137 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,539,743 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,635,263,000 after acquiring an additional 828,848 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,846,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $771,949,000 after purchasing an additional 167,518 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,602,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $436,008,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $276,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071,948 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Occidental Petroleum

Here are the key news stories impacting Occidental Petroleum this week:

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Read More

Analyst Recommendations for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY)

Receive News & Ratings for Occidental Petroleum Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Occidental Petroleum and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.