UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock Price

Key Points

• UBS Group lowered its price target on Occidental to $65 from $67 and maintained a "neutral" rating, implying roughly a 20.5% upside from the current share price.
• The analyst consensus is a Hold with an average target of $62.78 (1 Strong Buy, 8 Buy, 15 Hold, 2 Sell).
• Occidental beat quarterly EPS estimates ($1.06 vs. $0.60) despite an 8.3% revenue decline year-over-year, and institutional ownership is high at 88.7% with several major funds increasing stakes.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at UBS Group from $67.00 to $65.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the oil and gas producer's stock. UBS Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.50% from the stock's current price.

OXY has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings raised Occidental Petroleum from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.78.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE OXY traded up $0.00 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $53.94. 2,615,971 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,493,155. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $53.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 0.17. Occidental Petroleum has a 52-week low of $38.80 and a 52-week high of $67.45.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.46. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 19.98% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,900,677 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,696,716,000 after purchasing an additional 699,137 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,539,743 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,635,263,000 after buying an additional 828,848 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 167,518 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 1,883,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $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.

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