Berkshire Hathaway
lifted its stake in
Occidental Petroleum
in recent days, making its first purchase since late June. Berkshire bought 3.9 million shares, increasing its stake to 228 million shares worth $14.5 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway (ticker: BRK.A) bought the stock on Monday through Wednesday, according to a Form 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It now holds a 25.8% stake in Occidental Petroleum (OXY), whose shares rose 1.2% Wednesday to $63.47.
Berkshire paid an average price of close to $63 a share for its latest purchase.
The filing also indicates that Occidental has paid off since late June about $700 million of the 8% preferred stock held by Berkshire.
Berkshire now holds $8.5 billion of the preferred, which Occidental would like to pay off due to the high yield on it.
Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett said at the company’s annual meeting in May that Berkshire doesn’t seek control of Occidental, whose shares it has accumulated since early 2022. Berkshire has regulatory approval to buy as much as 50% of the company.
In addition to the Occidental common stock and preferred, Berkshire owns nearly 84 million warrants to buy the energy company’s common stock at just below $60 a share.
Write to Andrew Bary at [email protected]
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