Warren Buffett buys Occidental shares for 9 straight days, pushes his stake to nearly 29%

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Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has scooped up more shares of Occidental Petroleum over each of the past nine trading sessions, driving his gigantic stake in the Houston-based oil and gas producer to almost 29%, according to regulatory filings.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate purchased Occidental shares every trading day from June 5 to Monday, totaling an additional 7.3 million shares with purchase prices slightly under or above $60, filings showed.

The purchases brought Berkshire's holding to over 255 million shares, representing a 28.8% stake. Occidental is Berkshire's sixth-biggest stock holding, and the conglomerate has become Occidental's biggest institutional investor by far.

Berkshire also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million common shares for $5 billion, or $59.62 each. The warrants were obtained as part of the company's 2019 deal that helped finance Occidental's purchase of Anadarko Petroleum.

The stock closed at $60.2 Monday, making Buffett's warrants «in the money.» A full redemption of the preferred equity could lift Berkshire's ownership of Occidental above 40%.

Buffett has clarified that he wouldn't take full control of the oil company, once known for being founded by legendary oilman Armand Hammer. There had been speculation of a takeover after Berkshire received regulatory approval to purchase as much as a 50% stake. 

The «Oracle of Omaha» previously said he started buying Occidental after reading a transcript of the oil company's earnings conference call.

«I read every word, and said this is exactly what I would be doing,» Buffett told CNBC.

Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub is «running the company the right way,» he added.

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