TD Cowen Upgrades Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) to “Hold”

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) was upgraded by equities researchers at TD Cowen to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 11th. Barclays started coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.48.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of OXY stock opened at $46.30 on Monday. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $34.78 and a one year high of $52.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.43. The stock has a market cap of $45.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.04 and a beta of 0.41.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 12.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.98 per share, with a total value of $194,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 218,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,533,228.74. This represents a 2.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 10.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,504,019 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,718,054,000 after purchasing an additional 8,273,030 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,089,878 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $756,796,000 after purchasing an additional 3,267,269 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1,029.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,493,747 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $70,580,000 after buying an additional 1,361,541 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 134.3% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,815,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $85,798,000 after buying an additional 1,040,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,718,939 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $412,045,000 after buying an additional 900,677 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.