Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought more than $560 million worth of stocks over the last three days. The company purchased 8.9 million shares of Occidental Petroleum for $405 million. This pushed Berkshire’s stake in the Houston-based energy producer above 28%.
During the same period, Berkshire also bought about 5 million shares of Sirius XM for around $113 million. It purchased roughly 234,000 shares of VeriSign for about $45 million as well. These smaller investments may have been made by Buffett’s investing lieutenants Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
The 94-year-old legendary investor seemed to take advantage of a broad market pullback that made these stocks much cheaper. Occidental shares have dropped more than 10% this month, bringing its 2024 losses to 24%. Buffett has ruled out a full takeover of the company.
The sell-off in Sirius XM has been even more dramatic. The satellite radio company is currently in a six-day losing streak, falling 23% this month and 62% this year. Berkshire started increasing its stake after billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Media completed its deal to combine its tracking stocks with the rest of the audio entertainment company.
SiriusXM has been dealing with subscriber losses and unfavorable demographic shifts. Internet name VeriSign has also had a rough year with its stock down 6% in 2024, significantly lagging the tech sector. Berkshire first bought the tech stock in 2013 and hasn’t changed the stake in years.
Berkshire’s strategic stock acquisitions
Berkshire Hathaway recently doubled down on its belief in VeriSign, the internet domain-name registry powerhouse. Through Geico, Berkshire snapped up another 76,487 shares this past week, spending $15.6 million.
That brings Berkshire’s total holdings to 13.2 million shares, worth $2.7 billion at current prices. VeriSign is a financial fortress, with an 88% gross margin, a 71% operating margin, and a 52% net-income margin. Those numbers are all up compared to last year.
VeriSign owns the digital real estate game, controlling registrations for dot-com and dot-net domains. Berkshire’s moves often signal long-term plays. With historic highs still within reach, VeriSign could be the sleeper stock ready to break out in 2025.
Buffett seems to see VeriSign as a high-margin cash machine poised for its next big act. On Friday, Occidental Petroleum shares are trading higher after Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in the company. Berkshire purchased 8,896,890 shares of Occidental at an average price of $45.99, totaling about $409 million.
Berkshire now holds roughly a 28% stake in Occidental Petroleum. At the time of writing, Occidental’s stock is up by 5.22%, trading at $47.70. The increase in share price shows investor confidence following Berkshire’s big investment.
To invest in Occidental Petroleum, people can purchase shares through a brokerage platform. Investors can also consider buying shares indirectly through exchange-traded funds that hold Occidental Petroleum stock, or by allocating investments within a 401(k) or mutual fund that includes the energy sector.
