Berkshire Hathaway bought 10.5 million shares of OXY
Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE:OXY) stock is on the rise today, after news that Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) bought 10.5 million shares worth about $588.7 million. This news came the same day as reports that Occidental Petroleum is purchasing oil & gas producer CrownRock for $12 billion.
At last look, OXY was up 3.5% to trade at $59.18, moving further from its recent Dec. 12 52-week low of $55.12, and now on track to log its best daily performance since October. Today’s pop has the stock back above its 20-day moving average, which has helped guide the shares lower since October, and the shares are now on track to snap a five-week losing streak.
Options bulls are blasting the oil name in response. So far, 56,000 calls have been exchanged — six times the call volume typically seen at this point — in comparison to 17,000 puts. Expiring tomorrow, the December 60 call is the most active contract, with new positions being bought to open there.
Bullish sentiment in the options pits has been the standard for a while now, too. OXY’s 50-day call/put volume ratio of 3.38 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 98% of readings from the past year.