Occidental downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded Occidental (OXY) to Equal Weight from Overweight with an unchanged price target of $52. The firm is shifting to a more defensive stance in oil exploration and production following the stocks’ outperformance relative to oil over the past two weeks. Oil fundamentals still screen as soft into year end, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Morgan Stanley says Occidental’s leverage is still well above peers while softening oil prices would slow its balance sheet rate of change.