UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price objective raised by research analysts at UBS Group from $67.00 to $73.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 18.65% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on OXY. Weiss Ratings raised Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $63.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Stephens cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.79.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $61.53. 2,702,464 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,075,866. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.03 and a 200-day moving average of $57.30. Occidental Petroleum has a 12 month low of $38.80 and a 12 month high of $67.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $61.50 billion, a PE ratio of 9.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.24.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 6.20 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth $12,868,205,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 46,141,269 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,252,271,000 after purchasing an additional 2,870,472 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 84.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,643,916 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $516,975,000 after buying an additional 4,882,834 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth $172,413,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth about $168,860,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, commonly known as Oxy, is an energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas. Its upstream operations are concentrated in the United States, including the Permian and Denver-Julesburg basins, and in selected international regions such as the Middle East and North Africa.

The company also operates midstream and marketing businesses that support the gathering, processing, transportation and sale of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.