Berkshire Hathaway buys Occidental Petroleum shares worth about $588.7 mn

Berkshire Hathaway has acquired nearly 10.5 million shares of Occidental Petroleum so far this week for about $588.7 million, according to a filing at the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

The purchases bring Berkshire's stake in Occidental to about 27%. The company also holds preferred shares and warrants to acquire another 83.8 million Occidental shares for $4.7 billion, or $56.62 apiece.

The shares and warrants were obtained as part of a deal that helped Occidental finance its 2019 purchase of Anadarko Petroleum. If exercised, the warrants would bring Berkshire's total ownership to 33%.

Occidental closed at $57.22 on Wednesday.

Berkshire last bought Occidental shares on Oct. 25 and acquired a 25.8% stake worth approximately $14.4 billion.

Berkshire owns dozens of businesses including several energy operations, the BNSF railroad and Geico car insurance, and hundreds of billions of dollars of stocks including Apple.