Occidental shares close higher on Tuesday, Berkshire Hathaway expands stake in company to about 16.4%

Berkshire Hathaway Inc said earlier this week it had acquired another 794,389 shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY), which brought its stake in the Texas-based oil company to about 16.4%.

According to a Berkshire regulatory filing, the new share purchases were conducted in a number of transactions at a total cost of about $44 million.

These purchases came a week after Berkshire Hathaway acquired 9.6 million shares of Occidental.

Berkshire now owns 153.5 million shares worth about $9.472 billion, based on Occidental’s Tuesday closing price.

Berkshire, which is the biggest individual shareholder in Occidental, also owns options to buy additional 83.9 million Occidental shares.

If those options are exercised, this would increase Berkshire’s stake to more than 25%.

Occidental shares closed higher for a fourth consecutive trading session in New York on Tuesday. It has also been the sharpest single-session gain since May 16th. The stock went up 4.77% ($2.81) to $61.71, after touching an intraday high at $62.97. The latter has been a price level not seen since June 14th ($64.12).

The shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation have soared 112.87% so far in 2022 compared with a 19.82% loss for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2021, Occidental’s stock went up 67.48%, thus, it again outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 26.89% gain.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to TipRanks, at least 9 out of 17 surveyed investment analysts had rated Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s stock as “Buy”, while 6 – as “Hold”. The median price target on the stock stands at $74.53.