Warren Buffett Isn't Done Buying Occidental Petroleum: How Many More Shares Did Berkshire Pick Up?

An SEC filing on Friday revealed Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) CEO Warren Buffett purchased an additional 27.1 million shares of Occidental Petroleum OXY worth about $1.6 billion from Wednesday through Friday of last week.

What Happened: The additional shares were picked up after Berkshire spent around $4.5 billion the previous week to purchase 91.2 million shares of the oil company.

Berkshire now holds 118.3 million shares of Occidental, which amounts to a 12.7% stake in the company. Since Berkshire owns more than 10% of Occidental, it is required to report transactions in the stock within two business days.

Also Read: What Was Your First? Find Out What Warren Buffett's And Ray Dalio's First Stocks Were — Plus The Zinger Nation Tells All

Why It Matters: Buffett's increasing stake in Occidental comes as billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has sold the last of, what was at one time, a nearly 10% stake in the company. Icahn cited Occidental's ill-timed $38-billion buyout of Anadarko Petroleum in May 2019 as the reason for his exit.

Occidental has been challenged by high debt since the purchase, but it has been rapidly paying it down, aided by the spike in energy prices. Occidental CEO Vicki Holub said the company is on track to get its net debt down to under $25 billion by the end of the first quarter.

Occidental produces about 1.2 million barrels of oil equivalent daily, the company shares are up nearly 90% over the last 12 months as oil prices have surged.

Shares of OXY closed down 0.31% on Friday at $57.95.

Photo: Courtesy of Fortune Live Media on Flickr