Julie Bang / Investopedia
What you need to know
- At the end of the third quarter, Berkshire Hathaway's cash pile swelled to a record $325.2 billion.
- Warren Buffett scaled back Berkshire's stake in its largest holding, Apple, and trimmed its position in Bank of America and other long-held investments.
- Berkshire made at least four new stock purchases this year—Ulta Beauty, Domino's Pizza, Heico Corp., and Pool Corp.
- Notable exits included HP, Paramount Global, Snowflake, and Floor & Decor.
Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.A and BRK.B), the investment company of Warren Buffett, has enjoyed an eventful year. Its cash pile reached a new record, it made significant cuts to some investments that had been in place for a long time, and they also took some risky bets.
As the year draws to an end, let's take a look at how Berkshire's holdings have changed this year so far.
We're using the most recently available regulatory filings for this data. They may not reflect the current position of Berkshire as the reports for the 4th quarter of 2024 are due to be filed in early 2019.
Berkshire's Record Cash Pile
At the end of the third quarter, Berkshire Hathaway's cash pile swelled to a record $325.2 billion, with more than 88%—$288 billion—invested in U.S. Treasurys.
Investors will be looking to next year to see how Berkshire deploys that cash—whether it's investing in other stocks or buying back its own shares.
This money was largely made by selling stock. Berkshire reduced its major investments and orchestrated some exits.
BofA Stakes, Apple Cuts Big
Buffett has reduced Berkshire’s largest investment, Apple (AAPL), by a third from what it was last year. This year the company has sold over 600 million Apple share, which brings the stake value down from $175 billion to $70 billion by the end September.
Buffett also trimmed Berkshire’s stock holdings in Bank of America. Berkshire has sold over 235,000,000 shares of Bank America (BAC), reducing its stake in the second largest bank to less than 10% by October. It no longer needs to disclose the transactions.
In addition, this company reduced its stakes in Capital One Financial (COF), Charter Communications(CHTR), Chevron(CVX), Louisiana-Pacific LPX), Nu Holdings NU (NU) and T-Mobile USTMUS (TMUS).
New Stocks in Berkshire's Portfolio
Berkshire Hathaway made at least four new stock purchases this year by betting on beauty products maker Ulta Beauty (ULTA), Domino’s Pizza (DPZ), aerospace and electronics firm Heico Corp. (HEI), and swimming pool supplier Pool Corp. (POOL).
Berkshire first revealed its stake in Ulta Beauty in the second quarter but sold more than 96% of its shares in the third quarter—unusual for the conglomerate, which is known to hold its investments for many years.
Berkshire, however, increased its Heico shares in the third quarterly, increasing it by just over 5,000 to reach 1.05 millions shares. In addition, this company increased its positions in Occidental Petroleum and Sirius XM.
Berkshire technically acquired a position at Chubb last year. However, it asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to keep this information confidential. This stake was revealed in early this year.
Berkshire Stock Positions Exited
Berkshire Hathaway sold its 22 million HP shares (HPQ), valued at $688 millions, at the end 2023.
Buffett, at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in May, admitted to having sold his company’s 63.3 millions shares of Paramount Global at a significant loss.
Berkshire sold its equity holdings in Floor & Decor (FND) and Snowflake (SNOW) too.
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