Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $73.00 to $74.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 24.76% from the stock’s current price.

OXY has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.91.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $59.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,179,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,158,932. Occidental Petroleum has a 12 month low of $38.80 and a 12 month high of $67.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $59.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.99 and a beta of 0.17. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $58.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.44 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 19.98% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The business’s revenue was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,900,677 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,696,716,000 after purchasing an additional 699,137 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,539,743 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,635,263,000 after acquiring an additional 828,848 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,846,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $771,949,000 after acquiring an additional 167,518 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,602,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $436,008,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $276,772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071,948 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 (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.