Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target Lowered to $52.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $59.00 to $52.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.64% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on OXY. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Roth Capital set a $54.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.68.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of OXY opened at $46.58 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 1.51. Occidental Petroleum has a 52-week low of $44.70 and a 52-week high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. Equities research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 3,614,015 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This trade represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders acquired a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 over the last 90 days. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434,098 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,053,055,000 after purchasing an additional 8,896,890 shares during the period. H&H International Investment LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% in the 3rd quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $475,389,000 after purchasing an additional 7,680,598 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% in the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $95,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,766,491 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $203,459,000 after buying an additional 1,337,728 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.