NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Oasis Petroleum (OAS) - Get Report fell 3% to $13.90 in midday trading today as Canaccord Genuity downgraded the Houston-based exploration and production company to "hold" from "buy" and lowered its price target to $15 from $17.

"With over 500K net acres, 86% held by production, almost all of which are operated, OAS is one of the largest players in the Williston Basin (WB). The company has a large inventory of Bakken and Three Forks locations in many of the best areas of the WB. That said, given the dilution from the equity offering that knocks down our NAV and price target, we no longer feel there is sufficient upside in the stock to warrant a 'buy' rating," analysts said.

The company is issuing 32 million common shares, up-sized from 25 million due to strong demand, at $12.80 per share. The equity offering is dilutive to EPS and CFPS, analysts noted, setting new 2015 EPS/CFPS estimates to 59 cents/$4.28 versus 76 cents/$5.51 previously.

With exercise of the overallotment option, which Canaccord Genuity assumes would bring total issuance to 36.8 million shares, they estimate the company will take in about $450 million in net proceeds from the offering.

Oasis plans to use the proceeds to repay balances on its revolver, about $600 million drawn as of February 27, and for general corporate purposes.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates OASIS PETROLEUM INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate OASIS PETROLEUM INC (OAS) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed, some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income, reasonable valuation levels and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including generally higher debt management risk and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry. The net income increased by 223.9% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $54.49 million to $176.50 million.
• The company's current return on equity greatly increased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of significant strength within the corporation. In comparison to other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, OASIS PETROLEUM INC has underperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has greatly exceeded that of the S&P 500.
• OAS's stock share price has done very poorly compared to where it was a year ago: Despite any rallies, the net result is that it is down by 65.44%, which is also worse that the performance of the S&P 500 Index. Investors have so far failed to pay much attention to the earnings improvements the company has managed to achieve over the last quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now.
• The debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44 is relatively high when compared with the industry average, suggesting a need for better debt level management. Along with this, the company manages to maintain a quick ratio of 0.44, which clearly demonstrates the inability to cover short-term cash needs.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: OAS Ratings Report