Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway boosts its stake in Occidental Petroleum

Published: March 7, 2023 at 11:23 p.m. ET

By

Mike Murphy

Warren Buffett’s company owns about 22% of Occidental Petroleum.
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OXY

-1.35%

BRK.B

-1.85%

SPX

-1.53%

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum Corp. in recent days.

Berkshire bought about 5.8 million shares of Occidental in a series of purchases Friday, Monday and Tuesday, according to a late Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, at prices ranging from $59.85 a share to $61.90 a share. The value of the purchases was about $360 million.

Berkshire is the dominant stakeholder in Occidental, holding about 22% — or more than 200 million shares — worth roughly $12 billion.

Also see: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is the largest investor in these 8 stocks

Last week, Occidental announced a $3 billion stock buyback program and a 38% increase to its dividend to 18 cents a share, following quarterly profit and revenue that fell below expectations.

Occidental shares OXY, -1.35% are down 3.4% year to date but up 11.5% over the past 12 months. Class B shares BRK.B, -1.85% of Berkshire are down less than 1% in 2023, and down 2.3% over the past year. That compares to the S&P 500’s SPX, -1.53% 3.8% gain this year and 4.4% decline over the past 12 months.