Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Given New $44.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Citigroup from $42.00 to $44.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 3.85% from the stock’s current price.

OXY has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price target on Occidental Petroleum and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Raymond James lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $42.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.14.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of OXY stock traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $42.37. 3,788,863 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,162,492. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.95. The firm has a market cap of $41.69 billion, a PE ratio of 17.36 and a beta of 0.81. Occidental Petroleum has a 1-year low of $34.79 and a 1-year high of $64.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 17.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,230,989 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,960,202,000 after purchasing an additional 12,107,285 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $13,053,055,000 after buying an additional 8,896,890 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth approximately $99,853,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% during the fourth quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $95,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,766,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $203,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,728 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by 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.