"Stock God" second-quarter holdings revealed: selling off 400 million shares of Apple, betting on two new companies
Berkshire Hathaway, owned by Warren Buffett, reduced its holdings of Apple stocks by approximately 389.4 million shares in the second quarter of 2023, halving its position from 800 million shares, indicating a lack of attractive investment opportunities. At the same time, Berkshire also trimmed its investments in several companies, including Bank of America and Chevron. Nevertheless, the company still maintains a cash reserve of $277 billion and made some new investments in Chubb and Occidental Petroleum. Overall, Buffett's investment strategy appeared relatively conservative in this quarter
Wednesday's disclosure of the 13F filing shows that "Stock God" Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has halved its stake in Apple while also reducing its holdings in several other blue-chip stocks, reflecting the billionaire's lack of attractive investment opportunities in the U.S. stock market in the second quarter.
According to Berkshire Hathaway's latest filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Buffett did sell about 389.4 million shares of Apple stock in the second quarter, with Berkshire currently holding 400 million shares of Apple stock, still the largest holding in the conglomerate's stock portfolio.
The news of Buffett selling a large amount of Apple stock was released in Berkshire's financial report earlier this month, but it wasn't until Wednesday that the specific number of shares he sold became clear.
In addition to the massive sale of Apple stock, Berkshire has recently also trimmed its investments in American Express, Chevron, Capital One Financial, Floor & Decor Holdings, T-Mobile, and Louisiana-Pacific.
It is worth noting that Berkshire liquidated its nearly $1 billion investment in Snowflake and its $88.6 million investment in PPL Global, both of which Buffett admitted earlier this year were disastrous bets.
With all these stock sales, Berkshire's massive cash reserves have swelled to a record $277 billion.
Berkshire only bought less than $2 billion in stocks this quarter, including increasing its holdings in insurance company Chubb and oil producer Occidental Petroleum, while also disclosing smaller new investments in aerospace parts manufacturer Heico Corp. and cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty. Nevertheless, both of these new positions are very small and have almost no impact on the company's $280 billion investment portfolio.
The quarterly filing did not detail what actions Buffett took or which of Berkshire's other two investment managers took what actions, but Buffett typically handles the largest investments worth over $1 billion.
Lastly, a strange thing is that while the 13F shows Berkshire sold about $50.6 billion worth of stocks in the first quarter (by value), Berkshire's 10Q cash flow statement disclosed that it sold $75.5 billion worth of stocks in the second quarter, indicating that at least $25 billion in sales were not disclosed on the 13F.
Many investors closely follow Buffett's actions due to his extraordinary track record over several decades.
In addition to the nearly $300 billion stock investment portfolio, Berkshire also owns several major insurance companies, including Geico, one of the largest insurance companies in the country, BNSF, one of the largest railroads in the U.S., a large number of utility companies, and various manufacturing and retail companies