Hydrocarbon exploration and petrochemical manufacturing company Occidental Petroleum (OXY) is seeing its stock rise on Friday alongside investing guru Warren Buffett buying its shares. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals that Buffet’s investing firm, Berkshire Hathaway ($BRK.A), bought nearly 8.9 million shares of OXY stock.
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Berkshire Hathaway acquired these shares in a series of transactions that took place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It spent roughly $405 million to buy these shares of OXY stock, which boosted its stake in the energy company to over 28%.
What This Means for OXY Stock
News of Warren Buffett buying more shares of OXY stock is pushing their price 5.11% higher as of this writing. Despite that increase, Occidental Petroleum’s shares are down 19.84% year-to-date. While performance was positive in the first half of 2024, the shares started to lose value in August and have continued downward since. It looks like Buffet took advantage of OXY’s weak share price to increase his stake in the company, which boosts investor confidence.
The investing giant also recently picked up roughly 5 million shares of Spotify (SPOT) stock, worth $113 million, and 234,000 Verisign (VRSN) worth $45 million. This news also has these shares rising today with SPOT stock getting a 0.88% boost and VRSN stock up 2.87%.
Interestingly, Verisign stock has also seen weakness throughout 2024, down 3.42%, explaining Buffett’s decision to buy the shares. However, it’s been a strong year for Spotity with the stock up 143.81% year-to-date, meaning Buffett has a different reason for purchasing these shares.
Is OXY Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Occidental Petroleum is Hold based on six Buy, 14 Hold, and one Sell ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average price target of $60.75, a high of $78, and a low of $51. This represents a potential 27.23% upside for OXY shares.
