INSIDER ACTION

Warren Buffett continued expanding his position in OXY

By far the largest insider trading in August was from Warren Buffett's purchasing of Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY) for a total of $390,719,420. This is following a flurry of purchases since March 2022, Buffett now holds 188,366,460 shares of OXY or around 20.2% of the company. Additionally, Buffett has warrants to purchase an additional 84 million shares at a price of $59.63, the current price sits around $73. Altogether, that would give Buffett around 30% ownership.

What is Buffett’s plan? Buffett could just be using oil companies as a hedge against the high inflation numbers. A plan that has worked as OXY has been the best performing stock in the S&P 500 this year and rising 50% since Buffett's first purchase in March. But, some speculate he could make a play to purchase the entirety of OXY. OXY’s current enterprise value sits around $96 billion with Buffett needing the remaining two-thirds to acquire. At over $60 billion this would make it the largest acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway. A value they could pay or maybe he’s content with riding the oil wave as the S&P 500 falters.