Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buys 5.98 million shares in Occidental Petroleum

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

Berkshire now owns a 194 million share in the hydrocarbon exploration company, which is a close to 20.9% stake, according to the purchase. The recent stake purchase was made at prices ranging from $57.9116 to $61.3765.

Prior purchases have been made by Buffett this year, as the energy major's stock has doubled since the beginning of 2022, due to higher oil prices since the onset of the Ukraine war. The shares of Occidental closed about 5% higher on Wednesday.

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

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

Price Action: Berkshire Class A shares closed 2.3% higher at $410,843. It was 50 on Wednesday and slipped 1.7% in extended trading. According to the data from Benzinga Pro, Class B shares were 2.3% higher at $271.65.