The Zhitong Finance App learned that on Thursday local time, Truist analyst Neal Dingmann said that there is a “great chance” that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A.US) will acquire Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US). The analyst raised Occidental Petroleum's target price to 93 US dollars, maintaining the “buy” rating. Previously, Berkshire Hathaway bought another 9.6 million shares of Occidental Petroleum, increasing its common stock holding ratio to 16.3%.

Dingmann said that once Occidental Petroleum reaches investment grade, it is expected that the company will make a takeover offer, and since Occidental Petroleum's debt may soon fall below 20 billion US dollars (currently 25 billion US dollars+10 billion US dollars of preferred stock), the company “will soon become investment grade (IG).” Furthermore, given the continued existence of positive factors such as free cash flow/debt repayment, Occidental Petroleum may reach investment grade as soon as this year.

The analyst expects that Occidental Petroleum will continue to “implement plans to maintain relative capital types, which focus on continuing free cash flow averaging more than $3 billion per quarter.”

However, different opinions in the market suggest that since Occidental Petroleum's debt plus preferred shares account for 60% of capital, it is unlikely that Buffett will completely buy the company.