Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Upgraded by Argus to “Hold” Rating

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) was upgraded by Argus to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, HSBC raised their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.95.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 3.1%

NYSE:OXY opened at $53.04 on Friday. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $34.78 and a one year high of $53.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $44.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.95 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.89% and a net margin of 9.14%.The company had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. Occidental Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,900,677 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,696,716,000 after purchasing an additional 699,137 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,539,743 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,635,263,000 after buying an additional 828,848 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,846,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $771,949,000 after acquiring an additional 167,518 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,602,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $436,008,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $276,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071,948 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.