Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Given New $52.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price target lowered by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $53.00 to $52.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 1.96% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com raised Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.67.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $51.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $47.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Occidental Petroleum has a 12-month low of $45.17 and a 12-month high of $71.18.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Equities analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 3,614,015 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. This trade represents a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have acquired a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Segment Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $205,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 3.3% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,241 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empire Financial Management Company LLC boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 6,383 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.