Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway boosts Occidental Petroleum stake to 25%

By Tomi Kilgore

Berkshire Hathaway spent $122.1 million to by 2.14 million Occidental shares over the past 3 days

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp. rose Thursday, after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. disclosed that it boosted its stake in the oil-and-gas company to over 25%.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Wednesday, Berkshire disclosed that it spent $122.1 million to buy 2.14 million more Occidental shares (OXY), bringing the total ownership to 224.13 million shares, or 25.1% of the shares outstanding.

That widens Berkshire's (BRKA)(BRKA) lead as Occidental's largest shareholder, with Dodge & Cox in second place with a 10.3% stake, according to FactSet data.

Occidental's stock rose 1.3% in premarket trading Thursday. Based on Wednesday's closing price of $57.46, Berkshire's stake would be valued at $12.88 billion.

The filing showed that Berkshire bought 638,301 shares at a weighted average price of $57.0143 on Monday, 1,239,180 shares at $57.1694 on Tuesday and 260,769 shares at $57.02 on Wednesday. In total, 2,138,250 shares were bought at a weighted average price of $57.105.

The purchases started after the stock closed at a one-year low of $56.07 on Friday. Over the past three sessions, the stock has gained 2.5%.

Occidental's stock has lost 8.8% year to date through Wednesday, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund (XLE) has dropped 8.9% and the S&P 500 has gained 14.0%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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06-29-23 0929ET

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