Legendary investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has bought $391 million worth of shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp. The Omaha-based conglomerate has been increasing its stake in the oil producer.

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With the latest addition, Berkshire Hathaway has taken its stake in the petroleum company beyond 20 percent.

According to a regulatory filing on Monday, Berkshire bought about 6.7 million Occidental shares between August 4 and August 8, according to Reuters. This takes the total holdings of Berkshire to about 188.4 million — or 20.2 percent of the company's equity — valued at about $11.3 billion.

With a 20.2 percent ownership, Berkshire could use the equity accounting method to report its proportionate part of Occidental's earnings together with its operating results.

Berkshire is the largest shareholder of Occidental, but experts speculate that it could contend that its accounting should remain unchanged as its stake in the company is passive.

Occidental Petroleum Corp’s share price has doubled this year due to rising oil prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In the first half of this year, Berkshire Hathaway had an operating profit of $16.3 billion. Berkshire owns several large firms.

Here are some of Berkshire Hathaway’s top holdings:

Activision Blizzard: Berkshire has a 9.5 percent stake in the company.

Apple Inc: Berkshire has a 5.7 percent stake in Apple.

Bank of America Corp: The conglomerate has a 12.9 percent stake in the company.

Kraft Heinz Co: Berkshire has a stake of 26.6 percent in the company.

American Express Company: Berkshire has a stake of 20.2 percent in the company.

Davita Inc: Berkshire has a stake of 39.5 percent in the company.

Moody’s Corp: Berkshire has a 13.4 percent stake in the company.

Chevron Corporation: Berkshire has a 8.1 percent stake in the company.

(With inputs from agencies)

First Published:Aug 9, 2022 6:42 PM IST