Four times a year, holding companies of a certain size are required to divulge their positions in equities. That’s a great thing for followers of Warren Buffett, widely considered the greatest long-term investor of all time. His company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (ticker: BRK.B, BRK.A), which he still helms at age 92, owns a sprawling equities portfolio that directly reflects what stocks Buffett likes.
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Although investors don’t have an up-to-the-minute reflection of what Berkshire owns, the company’s mid-May 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveals the complete Berkshire Hathaway portfolio as it stood at the end of March.
Why Follow Berkshire Hathaway Stock Picks?
There’s a reason Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting is considered such a Wall Street occasion. Every May, more than 30,000 people flock to the humble town of Omaha, Nebraska, just to hear sage wisdom from the elderly duo of Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, now 99.
Part of the reason is that the two share an easy rapport with each other, and each is witty and entertaining in his own way. But tens of thousands of people don’t make the trek to Nebraska to see an Abbott and Costello routine.
People closely watch the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio for a simple reason: The long-term track record of Berkshire Hathaway is absolutely unparalleled. In the 58 calendar years from 1965 to 2022, Berkshire Hathaway stock appreciated at a 19.8% compound annual growth rate, compared with a 9.9% annualized return for the S&P 500. To illustrate the power of compounding, that amounted to a 3,787,464% return for Berkshire shareholders compared with a 24,708% return for investors in the S&P 500.
For every $10,000 invested in Berkshire in 1965, investors would have $378.76 million by the end of 2022. S&P 500 investors would have $2.48 million. Returns like that simply can’t be generated by a lucky hand.
What Stocks Is Berkshire Buying and Selling?
Buffett’s extreme long-term bias is part of what makes him an excellent investor — it’s an edge few other investors have the patience or temperament for. When Berkshire agreed in 2015 to make its largest-ever acquisition, paying $32.1 billion for total ownership of industrial giant Precision Castparts Corp., Buffett brushed off concerns over the bear market in energy prices at the time as myopic, telling CNBC, “We’re going to be in this business for 100 years.”
Another famous nugget of wisdom from Buffett is his quip that his favorite holding period is “forever.”
All that’s to say that when Berkshire makes changes to its portfolio, it tends to carry weight.
There were three additions to Berkshire Hathaway’s stock holdings in the first quarter of 2023. Here are those new holdings, from the smallest to largest weightings at the end of the quarter:
— Vitesse Energy Inc. (VTS). While this small-cap energy stock will never be a big chunk of Berkshire’s portfolio because of its $540 million size, the holding company picked up nearly $1 million worth of shares of the high-yielding stock in the first quarter.
— Diageo PLC (DEO). Named by U.S. News as one of the 10 best stocks to buy for 2023, Diageo is an alcoholic beverages giant. It seems the Oracle of Omaha agrees with the stock’s value, picking up about $40 million of the company last quarter.
— Capital One Financial Corp. (COF). The largest new holding of Berkshire’s is Capital One, the financial company with its hands in credit cards and both consumer and commercial banking. The stock pays a roughly 2.7% dividend and trades for less than seven times forward earnings. Berkshire owns a more than $900 million stake in COF following its purchases in early 2023.
[SEE: Stocks Warren Buffett Just Bought and Sold.]
The financial holding company was also active on the selling side of the ledger. While Berkshire trimmed its positions in a number of stocks, it only sold out of four names completely. Here are the stocks Berkshire removed entirely from its portfolio in the first quarter:
— RH (RH)
— Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM)
— Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK)
— U.S. Bancorp (USB)
Zooming Out: Characteristics of Berkshire Hathaway Holdings
Although Berkshire Hathaway’s stock portfolio, worth around $330 billion, comprises 50 positions, it’s not quite as diversified as you might expect for a grouping of that many stocks.
In fact, concentrated bets on companies Buffett is highly confident in are a big part of what has made him such a fabulously successful investor over time. It’s harder to be concentrated with the massive sum of money Berkshire controls, but it’s doing a good job regardless: Its top six holdings make up about 80% of Berkshire’s stock portfolio. And its single largest position, Apple Inc. (AAPL), makes up about 47% of its portfolio.
In terms of sectors, the huge bet on Apple means information technology is the most heavily represented sector, constituting about 49% of the portfolio as of March 31. Financial companies accounted for 22% of the portfolio, while consumer staples accounted for roughly 12% and energy was the last to crack double digits at a touch more than 10%.
Here’s a look at the complete Berkshire Hathaway portfolio as of the company’s first-quarter filing. Values reflect closing prices as of May 16, based on holdings that were current as of March 31:
| Company | Shares Held | Value |
| Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) | 49,439,781 | $3,845,426,166 |
| Ally Financial Inc. (ALLY) | 29,000,000 | $727,030,000 |
| Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) | 10,551,000 | $1,200,492,780 |
| American Express Co. (AXP) | 151,610,700 | $22,503,576,201 |
| Aon PLC (AON) | 4,335,000 | $1,435,101,750 |
| Apple Inc. (AAPL) | 915,560,382 | $157,540,474,931 |
| Bank of America Corp. (BAC) | 1,032,852,006 | $28,258,830,884 |
| BYD Co. Ltd. (BYDDF) | 108,340,642 | $3,363,976,934 |
| Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) | 9,922,000 | $902,405,900 |
| Celanese Corp. (CE) | 8,819,016 | $906,771,225 |
| Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) | 3,828,941 | $1,283,997,075 |
| Chevron Corp. (CVX) | 132,407,595 | $20,319,269,529 |
| Citigroup Inc. (C) | 55,244,797 | $2,500,931,960 |
| Coca-Cola Co. (KO) | 400,000,000 | $25,292,000,000 |
| DaVita Inc. (DVA) | 36,095,570 | $3,557,218,424 |
| Diageo PLC (DEO) | 227,750 | $40,733,088 |
| Floor & Decor Holdings Inc. (FND) | 4,780,000 | $425,945,800 |
| General Motors Co. (GM) | 40,000,000 | $1,261,600,000 |
| Globe Life Inc. (GL) | 6,353,727 | $675,274,106 |
| HP Inc. (HPQ) | 120,952,818 | $3,588,670,110 |
| Itochu Corp. (ITOCF) | 98,380,800 | $3,431,522,304 |
| Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (JEF) | 433,558 | $12,789,961 |
| Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) | 327,100 | $52,116,843 |
| Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) | 325,634,818 | $12,699,757,902 |
| Kroger Co. (KR) | 50,000,000 | $2,447,000,000 |
| Liberty Latin America Ltd. Class A (LILA) | 2,630,792 | $21,335,723 |
| Liberty Latin America Ltd. Class C (LILAK) | 1,284,020 | $10,426,242 |
| Liberty Media Formula One Series C (FWONK) | 7,722,451 | $569,839,659 |
| Liberty Sirius XM Group Series A (LSXMA) | 20,207,680 | $562,177,658 |
| Liberty Sirius XM Group Series C (LSXMK) | 43,208,291 | $1,199,030,075 |
| Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX) | 7,044,909 | $442,913,429 |
| Markel Corp. (MKL) | 471,661 | $640,190,192 |
| Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. (MMC) | 404,911 | $72,912,324 |
| Mastercard Inc. (MA) | 3,986,648 | $1,515,883,036 |
| McKesson Corp. (MCK) | 2,289,864 | $906,763,245 |
| Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) | 578,000 | $44,968,400 |
| Moody’s Corp. (MCO) | 24,669,778 | $7,582,996,362 |
| Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU) | 107,118,784 | $653,424,582 |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) | 213,872,911 | $12,434,571,045 |
| Paramount Global Class B (PARA) | 93,730,975 | $1,401,278,076 |
| Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) | 315,400 | $49,126,704 |
| Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) | 6,125,376 | $1,051,788,313 |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) | 39,400 | $16,163,850 |
| StoneCo Ltd. (STNE) | 10,695,448 | $151,126,680 |
| T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) | 5,242,000 | $753,275,400 |
| United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) | 59,400 | $9,893,070 |
| Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF (VOO) | 43,000 | $16,208,850 |
| Verisign Inc. (VRSN) | 12,815,613 | $2,876,720,650 |
| Visa Inc. (V) | 8,297,460 | $1,912,315,606 |
| Vitesse Energy Inc. (VTS) | 51,026 | $992,456 |
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The Complete Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 05/17/23: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
