Tudor Pickering analyst Matthew Portillo downgraded Occidental Petroleum to Sell from Hold with a $36 price target. He contends that the "overwhelming amount" of debt and preferred equity issued to guarantee the winning bid for Anadarko Petroleum has put Occidental's balance sheet in an "extremely uncomfortable position." While plans to deconsolidate Western Midstream (WES) will "help optically," he believes Occidental needs $65 per barrel WTI price to achieve less than 2 times leverage by 2022, he stated. Management has said it remains committed to the dividend, but a 50% cut would free up greater than $1.3B of annual cash flow for further debt reduction, Portillo contends.