Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Raised to Strong-Buy at Hsbc Global Res

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) was upgraded by stock analysts at Hsbc Global Res from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.87.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of OXY stock opened at $44.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $44.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $45.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.82. Occidental Petroleum has a 52 week low of $34.78 and a 52 week high of $56.49.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.29 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 8.79% and a return on equity of 13.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 53.5% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 12,254 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 4,270 shares during the period. Insight Advisors LLC PA boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 11.4% during the first quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 5,395 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 6.4% during the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 55,375 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,733,000 after purchasing an additional 3,331 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Chemistry Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 65.1% during the first quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,754 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 16,459 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.