Warren Buffett takes the floor and meets with Berkshire Hathaway shareholders before their annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2024.
David A. Grogan
Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathawaybought more shares Occidental Petroleum in each of the last nine trading sessions, raising its mammoth stake in the Houston oil and gas producer to nearly 29%, according to data regulations.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate purchased Occidental shares every trading day from June 5 through Monday, for a total of an additional 7.3 million shares at a purchase price of just under or above $60. documents were shown.
The purchases bring Berkshire’s stake to more than 255 million shares, or 28.8%. Occidental is Berkshire’s sixth-largest stock holding, and the conglomerate has become Occidental’s largest institutional investor by a wide margin.
Berkshire also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million shares of common stock for $5 billion, or $59.62 each. The warrants were received as part of the company’s transaction. deal 2019It helped finance Occidental’s purchase of Anadarko Petroleum.
The stock closed at $60.20 on Monday, putting Buffett’s warrants in the money. A full buyout of preferred shares could push Berkshire’s stake in Occidental above 40%.
Buffett clarified that he will not take full control of the oil company once known for being founded by oil legend Armand Hammer. Rumors of a takeover emerged after Berkshire received regulatory approval to buy a 50% stake.
“Read every word”
The Oracle of Omaha previously said it began buying Occidental after reading a transcript of the oil company’s earnings conference call.
“I read every word and said this is what I’m going to do,” Buffett told CNBC.
Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub “runs the company properly,” he added.
Occidental also pays a dividend of 1.5%. The stock is little changed this year after falling 5% in 2023.
The legendary investor said he took advantage of increased market volatility in early 2022 to acquire 14% of the energy company worth more than $7 billion in just two weeks.
“I find it absolutely incredible. You couldn’t do that with Berkshire… Overwhelmingly, the big companies in America have become poker chips,” Buffett said in 2022. “Imagine trying [buy] 14% of farms in this country; 14% residential buildings; 14% of car dealerships, or whatever, when 40% were already locked up somewhere else.”