Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $58.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Raymond James upped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.71.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

OXY traded up $2.16 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $51.00. The stock had a trading volume of 27,199,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,553,355. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $49.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.45. The firm has a market cap of $47.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 1.55. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $45.17 and a one year high of $71.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 15.89%. As a group, research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 3,614,015 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. This represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 160.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 494 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

About Occidental Petroleum

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.