eBusiness Weekly
Berkshire sold 10 million shares of Apple and now holds 905 million shares of the iPhone maker now worth about US$166 billion, or nearly half of the company’s equity portfolio. Apple stock was down 0,7 percent in premarket trading Thursday.
Berkshire added to its holding in Chevron, buying 16 million shares of the number 2 domestic energy company and bringing its total investment to 126 million shares worth about US$19 billion.
The fourth-quarter purchase of Chevron came after the sale of about 13 million shares in the third quarter.
Chevron stock has gained 0,8 percent in premarket trading.
Berkshire sold about a third of its investment in Paramount Global in the fourth quarter and holds 63 million shares of the media company.
Berkshire continued to sell its stake in HP, the maker of PCs and printers, sharply dropping its holding by 80 million shares to about 23 million shares in the fourth quarter. Paramount stock has fallen 4,3 percent in premarket trading, while HP was unchanged.
The conglomerate also eliminated a holding of about 6 million shares in DR Horton, the country’s leading home builder. Its shares were down 1,4 percent in premarket trading.
Buffett manages about 90 percent of Berkshire’s equity portfolio of about US$350 billion with the rest overseen by managers Ted Weschler and Todd Combs. Berkshire doesn’t say whether equity buys and sells are made by which manager.
While Buffett oversees the huge Apple investment, he has said in the past that a small part of it was held by one of the other two managers. It is, therefore, difficult to say for sure whether the Apple sales in the latest quarter were made by Buffett or either Combs or Weschler.
Berkshire’s investment in Paramount hasn’t been a winner with Barron’s estimating its cost at more than US$30 a share. Berkshire was a buyer of Paramount in the first quarter of 2022 and has been one of the company’s largest shareholders.
Berkshire’s Apple investment has been one of Buffett’s biggest coups during his control of the company dating back to 1965.
Berkshire’s cost basis in Apple is around US$34 a share, Barron’s estimates based on disclosure in CEO Warren Buffett’s annual letter released in early 2022.
Apple ended Wednesday US$184, meaning Berkshire has a paper profit of about US$135 billion, we estimate. — Barrons
