Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Adds $352M Stake In Occidental Petroleum This Week: Stock Nearly Doubles In 2022

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) has been on a buying spree as it loaded up over 5.98 million shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY over the last three days valued at over $352 million, according to a regulatory filing.

Post the purchase, Berkshire now owns over 194 million shares in the hydrocarbon exploration company which amounts to a stake close to 20.9%. The recent stake purchase was done at prices ranging from $57.9116 and $61.3765.

Also Read: Warren Buffett Now Owns Nearly 20% Of This Oil Exploration Company: What You Need To Know

Berkshire's stake would permit Buffett’s conglomerate to report its proportionate share of Occidental's earnings with its operating results, via the so-called equity method of accounting, according to a Reuters report.

Prior Purchases: Buffett’s firm has been loading up on shares of Occidental this year, as the energy major's stock has almost doubled since the beginning of 2022 on the back of higher oil prices since the onset of the Ukraine war. On Wednesday, shares of Occidental closed about 5% higher.

Between July 14 and July 16, Berkshire purchased 1.94 million shares in the Texas-headquartered hydrocarbon explorer for $112 million. In August, Buffett’s company purchased nearly 6.7 million shares of Occidental at over $390 million.

Berkshire also has $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock, which creates $800 million of annual dividends, the Reuters report said.

Price Action: Berkshire Class A shares closed 2.3% higher at $410,843.50 on Wednesday, and slipped 1.7% in extended trading. Class B shares also closed 2.3% higher at $271.65, according to data from Benzinga Pro.