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

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Barclays from $46.00 to $48.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the oil and gas producer's stock. Barclays's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 15.69% from the stock's current price.

OXY has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com lowered Occidental Petroleum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank cut shares of 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 note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 target price on Occidental Petroleum and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Stephens cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $54.29.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:OXY traded up $2.48 on Thursday, hitting $41.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,135,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,999,971. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.39. The company has a market capitalization of $38.99 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00 and a beta of 0.81. 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 has a 1 year low of $34.79 and a 1 year high of $64.76.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.97 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $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 valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.