Buffett's Berkshire (BRK) Buys More Occidental (OXY) Shares

Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) continued buying Occidental Petroleum’s (NYSE: OXY) shares last week, according to SEC’s filings.

After Berkshire recently bought 91.2 million shares of Occidental for $4.5 billion, the conglomerate bought an additional 27.1 million shares for $1.5 billion last week.

According to the filing posted on late Friday, Berkshire made subsequent purchases of Occidental shares on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday - priced between $51.03 and $58.58. The average price of the purchases is roughly $56.60.

The latest purchase values Berkshire’s stake in Occidental at nearly $6.9 billion at Friday’s closing price of $57.95, moving the oil and gas exploration and production company up to the 9th place of Berkshire’s biggest reported holdings of publicly-listed U.S. companies. The purchase also gives the conglomerate about 12% of Occidental’s outstanding shares.

When Berkshire’s warrants to purchase nearly 84 million shares are included, the stake will rise to around 20%. Buffet’s conglomerate obtained the warrants after it helped Occidental acquire Anadarko Petroleum in 2019.

The warrants, priced at $59.624, can be used by Berkshire to buy the shares at a lower market price, resulting in an instant paper profit which will additionally increase if the stock price rises.

Shares of Occidental rose almost 90% over the past 12 months following a surge in oil prices.

However, OXY stock is down nearly 5% today on falling oil prices and Morgan Stanley’s downgrade to Equal-Weight from Overweight to Equal-weight with a price target of $52.00 (from $50.00).

Berkshire Hathaway’s shares hit an all-time high on Friday, rising 9% year-to-date.

By Senad Karaahmetovic | [email protected]

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