Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock Price

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price target lowered by Morgan Stanley from $51.00 to $50.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 13.31% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $44.00 price target (down previously from $51.00) on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.57.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

OXY stock opened at $44.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.35. Occidental Petroleum has a 1 year low of $34.78 and a 1 year high of $52.58. The stock has a market cap of $43.47 billion, a PE ratio of 32.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.35% and a net margin of 7.81%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse purchased 5,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 218,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,533,228.74. This trade represents a 2.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 57,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after acquiring an additional 16,506 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 88.9% in the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,089 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 3,806 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 8.7% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 12,213 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares during the last quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 15.7% in the second quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,161 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. Finally, Brave Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 742 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is 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.