Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp rose after Berkshire Hathaway Inc disclosed it had spent around $1 billion to buy additional shares in the oil company, raising its stake to 14.6%.
In a regulatory filing, Berkshire disclosed that it owns 136.4 million shares of Occidental.
As per regulatory filings, Berkshire has spent at least $6.4 billion to acquire the company’s common stock.
Occidental shares have benefited from rising oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The company is keen on trimming debt by more than 50% while boosting payouts to shareholders, including through a higher dividend which was announced last month.
In 2019, Berkshire had purchased the company’s preferred stock to help finance Occidental’s $35.7 billion purchase of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
The preferred stock rakes in $800 million in annual dividends. Berkshire also has warrants to buy $5 billion of additional Occidental stock at $59.62 per share. So far, it is not clear whether Berkshire is funding its latest purchases with available cash or by selling other stocks it owns, which include Chevron Corp.
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