Warren Buffett's cash reserves have been at all-time highs but he's put some of that back to work, scooping up more shares Occidental Petroleum, building his stake to more than 28% in the company.
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway purchased 763,000 OXY shares on Feb. 7 for an average price of $46.82, according to a regulatory filing late Tuesday. With this $36 million OXY buy, Buffett's stake in Occidental Petroleum is now 28.3%, or $12.9 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway entered 2025 with cash reserves sitting in excess of $300 billion after Buffett decided to sell of a portion of his Apple holdings. The firm is selecting how to use the record cash reserves.
Occidental Petroleum edged down a fraction before the stock market open on Thursday after falling 1.6% to 47.83 in Wednesday.
Shares have pulled back from an April 2024 high but are up 4.2% in February. However, OXY has declined 9% from its January high of 53.20. The stock is attempting to reclaim its 50-day moving average with its relative strength line at three-year lows.
Warren Buffett's OXY Stock Stake
Buffett's decision to add more OXY comes ahead of Occidental Petroleum's fourth-quarter earnings report on Feb. 18. Analysts predict quarterly profit slipping more than 9% with sales declining around 3%.
Occidental in recent quarters has been focused on cleaning up its balance sheet and reducing debt. At the end of Q3, the Permian Basin oil producer said it repaid $4 billion of debt, achieving about 90% of its short-term debt reduction target. In August, Occidental executives said they hoped to pay off about 85% of its near-term $4.5 billion debt reduction commitment by the end of Q3.
Warren Buffett Stocks: What's Inside Berkshire Hathaway's Portfolio?
Meanwhile, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has continued to support Houston-based Occidental Petroleum. Prior to the Feb. 7 purchase, Buffett most recently bought OXY in December 2024.
Along with the 28.3% stake, Berkshire Hathaway also owns $8.5 billion of Occidental preferred stock and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million common shares for $5 billion.
In August 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Berkshire Hathaway approval to purchase up to 50% of available OXY stock. However, Buffett told shareholders in early 2023 he has no intention of taking over the company.
Occidental Petroleum stock has a 32 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The Buffett stock also has a 18 Relative Strength Rating and a 77 EPS Rating.
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