Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target to $42.00

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its target price trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $49.00 to $42.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on OXY. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James cut Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.19.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of OXY stock opened at $39.85 on Monday. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $68.43. The company has a market capitalization of $37.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.32. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 129.2% during the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 722 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.