Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) is in the spotlight after Warren Buffett disclosed purchasing more shares of OXY stock via a Form 4. Buffett must file a Form 4 to disclose his trades, as his 10%+ ownership classifies him as an insider.
During Q1, OXY stock was recognized as the best performing stock in the S&P 500. The oil company returned 101% as the price of oil increased to over $100 per barrel. Today, the price of oil per barrel is around $108 at the time of writing.
With that in mind, let’s jump into the details of Buffett’s latest purchase.
Warren Buffett Buys More OXY Stock
Buffett purchased approximately 5.9 million shares, worth about $350 million in total, on May 2 and May 3. The shares were purchased at average prices ranging from $55.99 to $58.37. Afterward, the famed investor now owns a total of 142.3 million shares, which equates to a 15.2% stake.
The purchases are Berkshire’s first purchases of Occidental since mid-March. In an interview, Buffett stated that he first decided to purchase OXY stock after reading the company’s earnings transcript on Feb. 25. He first purchased shares on Feb. 28 and explained, “I read every word, and said this is exactly what I would be doing. [CEO Vicki Hollub is] running the company the right way.”
Occidental isn’t the only energy stock that Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A, NYSE:BRK-B) has scooped up this year. During Q1, the fund purchased about 120 million shares of Chevron (NYSE:CVX). As of March 31, Berkshire owns a total of 159 million shares.
Occidental Petroleum Insiders Are Bullish
Insiders of the company seem to be bullish as well. On March 28, CEO Vicki Hollub purchased 14,191 shares of her own company at an average price of $56.24 per share. In total, the transaction amounted to around $800,000. After the purchase, Hollub owns a total of 467,282 shares.
In the past 12 months, insiders of Occidental have purchased 106.84 million shares while selling only 292,927 shares. In total, insider net activity for the past year amounts to 106.55 million shares bought. However, it should be noted that Buffett accounted for a large amount of that activity. Once Buffett’s stake surpassed 10%, further transactions were counted as insider buys. If he alters his position again, he must submit a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) within two business days of the transaction.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
