Wolfe Research raised its price target on Occidental Petroleum to $70 from $67 on Monday and kept an outperform rating on the energy company. The new target implies 11.80% upside from the stock's current price.
Shares of Occidental Petroleum opened at $62.61 on Monday, above MarketBeat's consensus target price of $59.52, after a steady run of analyst changes in recent weeks. Barclays lifted its target to $59 from $55 on March 16 and kept an equal weight rating, while Mizuho raised its objective to $72 from $67 on March 17 and kept an outperform rating. Weiss Ratings moved the stock from sell, d-plus, to hold, c-minus, on March 9.
The latest calls add to a longer list. Jefferies Financial Group lifted its target to $47 from $42 on Feb. 23 and kept a hold rating, and Bank of America raised its target to $45 from $44 on Jan. 27. MarketBeat data put Occidental Petroleum at an average rating of hold, with one strong buy, eight buy, 15 hold and two sell ratings across the analyst set.
That backdrop sits alongside a mixed quarterly report. Occidental Petroleum said on Feb. 18 that it earned $0.31 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.13, but revenue fell short at $5.11 billion versus the $6.02 billion estimate and was down 5.2% from a year earlier. The company posted $0.80 per share in the same quarter of the previous year, and analysts expect 3.58 per share for the current year.
There is still a gap between the way analysts view the stock and where it trades. Occidental Petroleum's market cap stood at $62.09 billion, with a P/E ratio of 39.03 and a beta of 0.23, while its shares have moved between a 52-week low of $34.78 and a high of $67.45. The company also reported a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.
Buying has continued behind the scenes. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its Occidental Petroleum holdings by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, adding 1,883,721 shares to bring its stake to 10,602,660 shares worth $436,008,000. UBS AM also increased its position by 54.3% during the fourth quarter. For investors watching oxy stock, the immediate question is whether the latest price target increases can keep pace with a share price already running above the consensus view.
