Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Rating Lowered to Sector Perform at Scotiabank

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) was downgraded by investment analysts at Scotiabank from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $40.00 target price on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 6.15% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on OXY. Raymond James cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.71.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 3.3 %

NYSE:OXY opened at $37.68 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.05. The firm has a market cap of $35.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44 and a beta of 1.02. Occidental Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $34.79 and a fifty-two week high of $71.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought 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 owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OXY. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.