The investment firm led by Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, engaged in a series of stock purchases just ahead of Christmas. The firm seized the opportunity during a sell-off in December to acquire additional shares. Berkshire Hathaway expanded its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by acquiring an additional 8.9 million shares for a total of $405 million.
This raised its ownership in the energy company based in Houston to over 28%. Additionally, the firm purchased nearly 5 million shares of Sirius XM at an approximate cost of $113 million. Berkshire also acquired around 234,000 shares of VeriSign for about $45 million.
Because these investments are smaller in scale, it is likely that they were executed by Buffett’s investment team, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler. Overall, Berkshire spent over $560 million on stocks during the past three trading days. The renowned 94-year-old investor appeared to have capitalized on a general market decline that made these stocks more affordable.
Shares of Occidental have seen a drop of more than 10% this month, leading to total losses of 24% for the year 2024.
Buffett’s year-end stock acquisitions
Currently, the energy company ranks as Berkshire’s sixth-largest stock holding.
Buffett has indicated that Berkshire does not intend to completely acquire the firm. On the other hand, the performance of Sirius XM has been significantly worse. The satellite radio company located in New York is experiencing a six-day decline.
This month, its stock has decreased by 23% and has plummeted by 62% this year. Berkshire began increasing its holdings of Sirius XM following the conclusion of billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Media’s deal to merge its tracking stocks with the remainder of the audio entertainment business. Thus, Berkshire’s ownership has grown to approximately 35%.
Sirius XM is facing challenges related to subscriber losses and unfavorable demographic trends. Meanwhile, the internet firm VeriSign has also encountered a challenging year, with its stock value declining by 6% in 2024, significantly underperforming compared to the broader tech sector.
Berkshire first entered the tech stock market with VeriSign in 2013 and has maintained its investment there for years.
