Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B-US) revealed its recent purchase of oil explorer Occidental Petroleum (Occidental Petroleum), now worth more than $5 billionDollarBerkshire’s cash level is too high and the situation that it can’t find investment targets seems to have changed.
Archyde.com reported that Berkshire bought 61.4 million Occidental shares between March 2 and March 4, according to documents disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday. Berkshire currently holds 91.2 million Occidental shares, or nearly 10% of the outstanding shares.
Russia’s fear of an energy embargo drove international oil prices up 25% last week, with Occidental Petroleum (OXY-US) also surged 45% over the same period. The stock rose as much as 4.7% on Monday, but ended the day down 1.88% at 55.38 as oil prices slipped from session highs Dollar. The company’s stock price was still less than 9 per share in October 2020 Dollar。
In his February 26 annual shareholder letter, Buffett said, “We can’t find anything exciting” in the stock market.Berkshire’s cash and cash equivalent at the end of December last year totaled 146.7 billionDollar。
But Carl Icahn, a well-known billionaire and activist investor, sold his holdings last week as Buffett pounded into Occidental oil. Icon is not happy with Occidental’s acquisition of Anadarko.
Berkshire bought Occidental’s preferred stock and warrants in 2019 to fund the company’s $35.7 billionDollarAcquisition of Anardako Petroleum Corporation.
Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said Buffett and his team have two other places to use their cash: buying a stake in Berkshire’s energy business, Buffett’s late friend Walter Scott, and investing in U.S. trucks. Rest-stop giant Pilot Travel Centers increased its stake to more than half.
Shanahan said: “Berkshire’s cash level has been rising steadily in recent years, and only spent more when executing treasury stocks. Now, we are more and more optimistic regarding Berkshire’s cash deployment, and believe that at least the next one or two years will be used. There will be two larger investments.”
