Billionaire investment guru Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, sold close to 50 per cent of its stake in US tech giant Apple during the year, and increased cash holdings to almost $280 billion, as per a Bloomberg report.
The holding company founded by ‘The Oracle of Omaha’ did not specify its Apple holdings, but its stake in the Silicon Valley giant at first quarter end in June was estimated to be worth $135.4 billion.
Amid this, we take a look at the top 10 firms that make up Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio. The data below was sourced from CNBC's ‘Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker’ and is accurate as of filings with the exchanges during Q1, and based on subsequent reportage till August 1, 2024.
Top 10 Berkshire Hathaway Investments
| Company | Holdings | Stake | Mkt. price | Value | % of portfolio |
| 789,368,450 | 5.10% | $219.86 | $173,550,547,417 | 44.30% |
| 2. Bank of America Corp | 942,429,882 | 12.10% | $37.58 | $35,416,514,966 | 9.00% |
| 3. American Express Company | 151,610,700 | 21.30% | $232.28 | $35,216,133,396 | 9.00% |
| 4. Coca-Cola Co | 400,000,000 | 9.30% | $69.33 | $27,732,000,000 | 7.10% |
| 5. Chevron Corp | 122,980,207 | 6.70% | $148.55 | $18,268,709,750 | 4.70% |
| 6. Occidental Petroleum Corp | 255,281,524 | 28.80% | $57.67 | $14,722,085,489 | 3.80% |
| 7. Kraft Heinz Co | 325,634,818 | 26.90% | $36.06 | $11,742,391,537 | 3.00% |
| 8. Moody’s Corp | 24,669,778 | 13.50% | $460.59 | $11,362,653,049 | 2.90% |
| 9. Chubb Ltd | 25,923,840 | 6.40% | $271.32 | $7,033,656,269 | 1.80% |
| 10. Mitsubishi Corp | 358,492,800 | 8.60% | $19.37 | $6,943,145,591 | 1.80% |
Source: CNBC Berkshire Hathway Portfolio Tracker as of last reported filing.
Apple Stake Sold, Still Highest Share of Portfolio
During a shareholder meeting in May 2024, Buffett told investors “Apple was an even better business than American Express and Coca-Cola”, as per a Bloomberg report. The scale of the sell-off has thus taken pundits by surprise. Many speculate that it may have been driven by long term capital gains (LTGC) tax.
In May, Buffett has indicated that Apple would likely remain its top holding, barring tax issues, “but I don’t mind at all, under current conditions, building the cash position,” he said.
As per a Reuters report, selling the stock “made sense”, due to the 21 per cent federal tax rate on the gains would likely grow.
Besides Apple, Berkshire has also trimmed holdings in other Buffett favourites — Bank of America (BoA) and Chinese EV maker BYD, as per an AP report.
In BoA alone, Berkshire sold over $3.8 billion shares — its second-largest US bank's stock since mid-July, Reuters reported. Between July 30 and August1, it shed around 19.2 million BoA shares for about $779 million, regulatory filings showed.
Notably however, Berkshire remains BoA's largest shareholder, with 942.4 million shares or 12.1 per cent stake worth about $37.2 billion, as per Reuters.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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Business NewsCompaniesNewsWarren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway holds stakes in THESE companies — a look at the Top 10 investments
