Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target to $56.00

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $56.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set an outperform rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.21.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $51.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $46.21 billion, a PE ratio of 13.94 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.91. Occidental Petroleum has a twelve month low of $49.75 and a twelve month high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 16.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 24.04%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter worth about $10,331,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,975,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter valued at approximately $12,547,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 20.1% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,661,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $104,707,000 after acquiring an additional 277,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 139.4% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 78,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $5,104,000 after purchasing an additional 45,722 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.