According to the 13F position document released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after market hours on Wednesday, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway increased its holdings in energy stocks in the fourth quarter of last year by taking a heavy position in Apple. However, Apple remains the largest heavy stock, accounting for 50% of disclosed holdings. In addition, the company remains a major investment under wraps, with speculation that it is an investment in financial stocks.
Berkshire sold 10 million Apple shares in the last three months of 2023, accounting for about 1% of the company's Apple stake, bringing the company's stake in Apple down to 5., the data showed9%。
However, Apple is still Berkshire's No. 1 heavy stock, with the company still holding 90.6 billion shares of Apple**, worth about $174 billion, accounting for 50% of its assets. Although Warren Buffett has been pushing Berkshire's investment in Apple, he believes that the investment in Apple may have been made by Berkshire investment managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who manage some of Berkshire's investments.
There is a belief that Berkshire Hathaway's stake in Apple is already overproportionately large in its portfolio. With Apple's share price following the tech stock ride**, Berkshire investors have been wondering how much Buffett and his lieutenants will allow Apple's stake to grow.
However, Apple's share price has not kept pace with other big tech companies in recent months, and recently Apple lost the crown of the most valuable company in the United States to Microsoft. Apple also faces a range of challenges, including regulatory scrutiny of its App Store policies, declining sales in the Chinese market, and investor concerns about its growth prospects. Several analysts have downgraded the firm. Apple after hours on Wednesday**056%。
Berkshire slashed its stake in Paramount Global by 32% to about 63.3 million shares at the end of December, causing Paramount shares to fall nearly 7% in after-hours trading, while HP fell slightly by 028%。
Another Berkshire company is Hewlett-Packard (HP), which cut its stake by about 77% in the fourth quarter to just 22.8 million shares. Berkshire initially bought the tech hardware stock in April 2022. Many Buffett observers already suspect that the stock god intends to sell this stock altogether.
Berkshire cleared home builder Dr Horton, insurer Globe Life, insurance and investment firm Marcel, and Brazilian credit card processor Stoneco last quarter**.
On the other hand, Berkshire increased its holdings of Chevron shares by 15.8 million, bringing its total investment to 1With 2.6 billion shares, the investment was worth nearly $19 billion, making it the company's fifth-largest holding, reversing a series of previous quarters of the energy giant**, with Berkshire selling about 13 million Chevron shares in the third quarter. After a strong performance in 2022, Chevron is up 17% last year and just 1% so far in 2024. Berkshire has also increased its investment in Octidental Petroleum, which now holds a 30% stake.
Berkshire also added 30.6 million shares of Sirius XM, an increase of more than 316%. There is a ** analysis that this may be a merger arbitrage behavior, a relatively small move for Berkshire, and this investment may come from Warren Buffett's two investment deputies, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
According to the 13F filing, Berkshire's top 10 holdings are Apple, Bank of America, American Express, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Kraft Heinz, and Moody's'S), D**Ita, Citigroup. According to the analysis, Berkshire has been increasing its holdings in energy stocks in recent quarters, and Chevron and Occidental Petroleum, the only two of the top 10 holdings in the fourth quarter, are also energy stocks.
Berkshire also received permission from the SEC for the second consecutive quarter to keep one or more of its holdings confidential for the time being; Such applications are made to the SEC when the company makes a large-scale investment, as Berkshire does not want to flock other investors before completing the purchase**. Requesting this kind of processing is relatively rare for Berkshire, and the last time it made a secret purchase was when it bought Chevron and Verizon in 2020.
According to Q3 10Q filings released in November, Berkshire hinted that the company's secret investments could involve banks, finance firms or insurance companies, as the company recently spent $1.2 billion on financial stocks, and Berkshire has not disclosed where the money is going.
Berkshire is expected to reveal more about its investments and business in its annual report and annual letter to shareholders on Feb. 24. This will be Buffett's first letter to shareholders since the death of his longtime partner Charlie Munger on November 28 last year.