Berkshire Hathaway bought up additional Occidental Petroleum shares
Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE:OXY) are up 4.4% at $47.36 at last glance, after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) bought an addition 8.9 million shares in the energy producer. This is just one of the conglomerate's moves to buy stocks on the dip after the recent selloff, and Occidental is Berkshire's sixth-largest equity holding.
OXY has moved lower since breaking below support at the $50 level earlier this month, and yesterday hit a two-year low of $45.17. The stock's "oversold" condition could contribute to a rebound, per its 14-day relative strength index (RSI) of 17.5. Since the start of the year, the equity is down 21.1%.
Options traders appear to be betting on an upside as well. So far today, OXY has seen 49,000 calls exchanged -- triple the amount typically seen at this point -- in comparison to 7,653 puts. The expiring December 47 call is the most popular, followed by the 46.50 call in the same series, with positions being opened at both.