Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is buying more Western stocks. How much it owns now.
Berkshire Hathaway bought nearly 6 million shares of Occidental Petroleum in recent days, bringing its stake in the energy major to 200.2 million shares worth $12.2 billion, according to a filing late Tuesday.
The purchases, which occurred on Friday, Monday and Tuesday, were made at prices ranging from about $59 to $62 per share, and are Berkshire’s first purchases since the end of the third quarter. The value of the purchases is around 360 million dollars.
“All in all,…
Berkshire Hathaway bought nearly 6 million shares of Occidental Petroleum in recent days, bringing its stake in the energy major to 200.2 million shares worth $1[ads1]2.2 billion, according to a filing late Tuesday.
The purchases, which occurred on Friday, Monday and Tuesday, were made at prices ranging from about $59 to $62 per share, and are Berkshire’s first purchases since the end of the third quarter. The value of the purchases is around 360 million dollars.
“Overall, we expect OXY to have a slightly positive reaction compared to peers tomorrow,” writes Roth MKM analyst Leo Mariani.
More than a little. Occidental Petroleum shares have risen 0.5% on Wednesday, while
Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF
(XLE) has fallen 1.8%. The
S&P 500
has fallen by 0.1 percent.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett likes energy companies. Berkshire also owns about $27 billion in Chevron stock (ticker: CVX).
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Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK.A , BRK.B ) now owns about 22.1% of Occidental Petroleum ( OXY ), whose shares fell 1.4% on Tuesday to $60.85. As the holder of more than 10% of Occidental, Berkshire must disclose any purchase or sale within two business days to the Securities and Exchange Commission in a Form 4 filing. The new purchases also raise questions about Berkshire’s intentions: Will it aim to buy Occidental outright at some point in the future?
In addition to the Occidental stock, Berkshire owns nearly 84 million warrants to purchase Occidental stock exercisable at just under $60 per share and $10 billion in Occidental preferred stock with an 8% dividend yield.
The Berkshire purchases indicate that the decline in Occidental’s share price along with energy prices in recent weeks has lured Buffett.
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Berkshire began buying Occidental shares in 2022 and Barron’s estimates that Berkshire paid an average price in the low $50s.
Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com
