Buffett's still buying OXY, adding shares worth $1.6 billion

Warren Buffett was not done.

After spending around $4.5 billion last week to buy 91.2 million shares of Occidental Petroleum (see below), he's spent more than $1.5 billion this week to add another 27.1 million shares to Berkshire's stake.

An SEC filing late tonight reveals the purchases were made on Wednesday, yesterday and today at prices between $51.03 and $58.58. The weighted average of the buys is around $56.60.

That gives Berkshire a total of 118.3 million shares that are worth almost $6.9 billion at today's close of $57.95.

As a result, OXY moves up a notch to 9th place on Berkshire's list of biggest reported holdings of publicly-traded U.S. shares.

And it gives Berkshire nearly 12% of Occidental's outstanding shares.

When its warrants to buy nearly 84 million shares, obtained as part of its 2019 deal that helped finance Occidental's purchase of Anadarko, are included, the stake that the SEC pays attention to is around 20%.

The warrants have an exercise price of $59.624, which means they are a few cents away from being 'in the money.' Berkshire could then use them to buy at a price lower than the market price, generating an instant paper profit, which increases as the stock prices goes up.

Buffett built big OXY stake in just one week: 'We bought all we could'

Commenting on last week's buys, CNBC's Becky Quick reported on Monday's "Squawk Box" that he told her, "We started buying on Monday [February 28] and we bought all we could."

As first reported here last week, "all we could" was 91.2 million common shares.

Based on last week's filing, we knew around 61 million of them were purchased on Wednesday, March 2 through Friday, March 4 at prices ranging from $47.05 to $56.45. The stock was rallying strongly as he was buying. (They gained 45% over the week, as oil was surging in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Live updates here. Buffett's buying probably also contributed to the stock price's  move.)

Becky reports Buffett spent more than $4.5 billion altogether.

Buffett told Becky he decided the weekend before to start buying after reading a transcript of Occidental's February 25 earnings conference call.

"I read every word, and said this is exactly what I would be doing. She's [CEO Vicki Hollub] running the company the right way."

Buffett says he called Hollub immediately after the market closed last Friday to tell her he had been buying.

As Buffett as buying, activist investor Carl Icahn was reportedly selling the remains of what was once a 10% stake in the company. He started purchasing shares in 2019 to put pressure on the company because he thought management spent too much on Anadarko and had been taken "to the cleaners" in the Buffett financing deal.

The Wall Street Journal says its been told by sources "familiar with the matter" that Icahn ended up with a profit of around $1 billion.

Berkshire nominates Omaha investor to fill vacant board seat

Berkshire Hathaway's directors have nominated Wallace Weitz to fill the seat left vacant on the board by Tom Murphy's resignation last month.

Weitz, a longtime Berkshire shareholder, is co-chief investment officer at Omaha-based Weitz Investment Management, which he started in 1983. It has around $4 billion of assets under management.

Last year, in a message to his investors, Weitz "highly" recommended they read Buffett's most recent letter to Berkshire shareholders, saying it would them have a better understanding on his own investing philosophy and goals. 

In its annual meeting proxy statement filed late today, Berkshire says Weitz, who is 72, has "substantial experience as an investor in public companies and as a director of a company company." He serves on the board of Cable One, a broadband provider based in Phoenix with a market value of $8.8 billion.

Berkshire had to fill the seat with someone from outside the company to comply with an NYSE rule requiring a majority of board members be independent.

Shareholders will vote for directors at the annual meeting on April 30.

Berkshire Hathaway shareholders wait in the CenturyLink arena for the second session to begin at the company's annual meeting in Omaha May 4, 2013. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

There is also a shareholder proposal to make the board's chairman, currently Warren Buffett, an independent director. The board recommends a 'no' vote.

It notes Buffett has a 32% voting interest in the company and believes that "as long" as he is CEO, he should continue as chairman as well. It adds that the board agrees with Buffett's recommendation that when he is no longer the CEO, a non-management director should be the chairman.

At the 2011 Berkshire meeting, Buffett said he wants his son Howard to be the independent chairman of the board "as a safety measure" in case a CEO needs to be removed.

The board is also recommending that shareholders reject proposals that Berkshire issue reports on how it manages climate risks, how it plans to "measure, disclose and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," and on its "diversity, equity and inclusion efforts."

In the proxy statement, the board says reports at the corporate level are unnecessary, because managers are handling those issues at the subsidiary level.

Berkshire buybacks continue

Based on the number of outstanding Berkshire shares listed in the proxy statement, Barron's estimates the company has bought back around $2 billion of stock this year, through early March.

It believes Berkshire's buybacks picked up pace since mid-February, and that the total for the quarter could be around $4 billion.

Both Berkshire's Class A and Class B shares touched all-time intraday highs today but did not close above their previous record highs.

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

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BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - Mar 11, 2022

Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly-traded U.S. stocks by market value, based on today's closing prices.

Holdings are as of December 31, 2021 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on February 14, 2022, except for Apple, Bank of America, and U.S. Bancorp, which also include shares held as of December 31, 2021 as disclosed in New England Asset Management’s 13F filing on February 14, 2022, and except for Occidental Petroleum, which is as of March 11, 2022.

In addition to U.S. stocks, shares held as of December 31, 2021 of China's BYD, as listed in Buffett's 2021 letter to shareholders, are included. The price of those shares in U.S. trading is used to approximate the current market value of the position. The value of the stake as a percentage of the company's market value is fixed at what was listed as of December 31, 2021 in the letter.

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

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-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch