Warren Buffett Cuts Apple Stake, Invests in Verizon and Chevron

By Luigi Wewege | Wednesday, 17 February 2021 | Business, Finance

Warren Buffett, arguably the world’s most renowned stock market investor, and his company Berkshire Hathaway made a series of moves to rebalance their giant business portfolio at the end of 2020.

Apple Stake Slashed

Investors were eagerly waiting for Buffett’s business to report on their portfolio after the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) published the latest quarterly filing.

Warren Buffett has slashed its stake in Apple by 6%, but the tech company still remains the biggest single stock holding of his investing business. Berkshire’s Apple stake is valued at about $120 billion.

Buffett also acquired solid stakes in Verizon Communications, the insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Companies., and Chevron Corporation. Furthermore, Buffett bought a $4.1 billion stake while it has accumulated a hefty $8.6 billion stake in Verizon, which now accounts for 3% of the portfolio, and it is the No. 6 stock by number of shares held. In Marsh & McLennan, the investing company holds a stake valued at $499 million.

In Q3, his business used an opportunity not to disclose these investments and granted them confidential status. As expected, shares of Verizon soared by over 4%. Marsh stock price gained a bit over 2% while it is up by 3.3% in pre-open Wednesday.

Warren Buffett’s positions in JP Morgan Chase, PNC, and M&T Bank are no longer in the filing, meaning the investing business sold its stake in each of these companies. This is in line with the trend from Q3 when Berkshire Hathaway was selling shares of banking giants. In addition, Buffett also dumped all his airline stocks.

The company also closed its position in Barrick Gold. The company’s shares soared strongly in August of last year when it was disclosed that Warren Buffett purchased 21 million shares of the miner worth about $564 million.

Elsewhere, Berkshire Hathaway slashed its stake in General Motors (GM) to about $3 billion and closed its position in Pfizer. On the other hand, the company’s long positions in Merck & Co, Abbvie, Kroger, and Bristol-Myers Squibb were increased. Warren Buffett’s stake in Amazon has been left unchanged.

Berkshire Hathaway stock price closed at $369.33 yesterday, or 1.23% higher on the day. The investing business company has a market capitalization of more than $576 billion.

Summary

Warren Buffett and his company, Berkshire Hathaway, have made a significant investment in Verizon while it slashed its Apple stake by 6% in a series of moves to rebalance the company’s business portfolio.

About the Author

Luigi Wewege

Luigi Wewege is the Senior Vice President and Head of Private Banking at Caye International Bank. Outside of the bank, he serves as an instructor at the FinTech School which provides online training courses on the latest technology and innovation developments within the financial services industry. Luigi is also the published author of "The Digital Banking Revolution."