Scotiabank Lowers Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target to $46.00

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price objective dropped by analysts at Scotiabank from $47.00 to $46.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.63% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also commented on OXY. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America cut 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 report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.43.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

OXY traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $42.74. 11,054,197 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,173,192. The company’s 50-day moving average is $41.55 and its 200 day moving average is $43.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.11 billion, a PE ratio of 31.43 and a beta of 0.38. Occidental Petroleum has a 52 week low of $34.78 and a 52 week high of $52.58.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.16. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 12.35%. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William R. Klesse purchased 5,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 218,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,533,228.74. The trade was a 2.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 77.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 139,086 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,843,000 after buying an additional 60,793 shares during the period. Tevis Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $356,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,517,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 4.9% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 459,826 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $19,446,000 after purchasing an additional 21,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 4.4% in the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 731,158 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $30,716,000 after purchasing an additional 30,746 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Occidental Petroleum

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.