What stocks has Warren Buffett bought and sold lately? Each quarter, all fund managers with at least $100 million in assets must publicly disclose their stock holdings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission via form 13F, giving investors a rare peek behind the curtain at some of the world’s largest and most successful hedge funds.
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One of the most anticipated quarterly filings comes from Buffett and his $870 billion holding company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (ticker: BRK.A, BRK.B). Here’s a look at 10 changes the Oracle of Omaha made to Berkshire’s portfolio in the fourth quarter:
| Stock | Q4 change in shares | Change |
| Chevron Corp. (CVX) | +15,845,037 | +14.4% |
| HP Inc. (HPQ) | -79,666,320 | -77.7% |
| Apple Inc. (AAPL) | -10,000,382 | -1.1% |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) | +243,715,804 | +8.7% |
| D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI) | -5,969,714 | Sold all |
| Paramount Global (PARA) | -30,408,484 | -32.4% |
| Markel Group Inc. (MKL) | -158,715 | Sold all |
| SiriusXM Holdings Inc. (SIRI) | +30,559,834 | +315.6% |
| StoneCo Ltd. (STNE) | -10,695,448 | Sold all |
| Globe Life Inc. (GL) | -831,014 | Sold all |
Bought: Chevron Corp. (CVX)
Buffett first invested in U.S. oil major Chevron in the fourth quarter of 2020. Buffett sold Chevron shares in the first and second quarters of 2021, but a global energy crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent crude oil prices soaring to 13-year highs in 2022. In response, Buffett added to his Chevron investment in the first three quarters of 2022 but pivoted again and sold Chevron shares for several quarters. In the fourth quarter, Berkshire bought back about 15.8 million CVX shares, bringing Buffett’s stake back up to 126 million shares worth about $18.8 billion.
Sold: HP Inc. (HPQ)
Buffett first invested in computer and printer company HP in the first quarter of 2022. For decades, Buffett avoided the uncertainty of tech stocks like HP, but he has changed his tune in recent years. At one point in 2023, Berkshire owned nearly 121 million HPQ shares, but the stock has severely underperformed the S&P 500 since the beginning of 2022. Berkshire trimmed its HP stake by 77% in the fourth quarter, selling more than 79 million shares. Berkshire’s remaining stake of 22.8 million HPQ shares is worth about $687 million. If past portfolio decisions are prologue, a severe reduction in its positioning here likely implies Berkshire will completely sell out of the position in the next few quarters.
Sold: Apple Inc. (AAPL)
In the fourth quarter, Buffett trimmed more than 10 million shares from his massive Apple stake, bringing his total investment down to about 905.5 million shares worth a whopping $174.3 billion. Buffett first invested in Apple back in the first quarter of 2016. Today, Berkshire’s Apple stake is more than five times larger than any of its other public stock holdings and represents 45% of Berkshire’s total portfolio. Apple’s stock price has outperformed in the past three years and it has been a home run investment for Buffett, generating a 669% total return from the beginning of 2016 through Feb. 14.
Bought: Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY)
Occidental Petroleum is one of the largest U.S. oil and gas companies. Buffett has held a stake in Occidental since Berkshire helped bankroll Occidental’s $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum back in 2019. Berkshire’s Occidental stake has grown to more than 248 million shares worth about $14.2 billion, making OXY stock one of Buffett’s six largest stock holdings. Berkshire also reportedly holds $9.5 billion of Occidental preferred stock and warrants to buy $5 billion of OXY shares at $59.62 each.
Sold: D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI)
D.R. Horton is one of the largest publicly traded U.S. homebuilders by metrics like market capitalization, homes delivered and revenue. Buffett made a surprise push into the homebuilder market in the second quarter of 2023, and D.R. Horton was his largest brand new stake. Homebuilder stocks are a classic Buffett value play, and D.R. Horton shares trade at just 10.5 times forward earnings. A lack of U.S. housing inventory has created an attractive environment for homebuilders. However, Berkshire unloaded its entire 5.97 million-share stake in D.R. Horton in the fourth quarter.
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Sold: Paramount Global (PARA)
Paramount Global is a global entertainment company formed from the merger of Viacom and CBS in 2019. The company owns Paramount Pictures TV and movie studios, TV networks such as CBS and Comedy Central and streaming platforms Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Paramount is reasonably valued, priced at just 11.9 times forward earnings and 0.28 times sales, but Berkshire reduced its stake in Paramount by 32% in the fourth quarter by selling more than 30 million shares, bringing its stake down to 63.3 million shares worth about $936 million. Berkshire now owns about 10% of Paramount.
Sold: Markel Group Inc. (MKL)
Markel underwrites a wide variety of specialty insurance policies. Buffett has always loved the insurance business, and Berkshire has its own sizable core insurance operation. Buffett took a relatively modest stake of about 420,000 shares of Markel worth about $620 million in the first quarter of 2022. Berkshire reversed course aggressively in the third quarter of 2023, selling more than 312,000 shares and reducing its stake by two-thirds. Despite Buffett’s love of the insurance business, Berkshire continued selling off Markel in the fourth quarter. The company dumped all of its remaining 158,715 shares of MKL stock.
Bought: SiriusXM Holdings Inc. (SIRI)
SiriusXM Holdings is a leading provider of satellite and internet radio services, largely to the auto industry. Buffett has been in and out of SiriusXM in the past, buying back in 2016 and selling out five years later only to buy back in the third and fourth quarters of 2023. In December, Liberty Media Corp. announced a deal to combine its Liberty SiriusXM Tracking Stock Group (LSXMA, LSXMB, LSXMK) with SiriusXM Holdings to form a new public company called New SiriusXM under the ticker SIRI. Berkshire now holds 40.2 million shares of SIRI stock worth about $220.1 million.
Sold: StoneCo Ltd. (STNE)
StoneCo provides financial technology solutions, specializing in serving e-commerce merchants conducting in-store, online and mobile transactions. Berkshire first invested in StoneCo back in the fourth quarter of 2018, but Buffett completely exited his position in the fourth quarter. Berkshire dumped all of its more than 10.6 million shares of STNE stock in the quarter. StoneCo was certainly not one of Buffett’s legendary investments. Since October 2018, the stock generated a loss of about 44%, including dividends, while the S&P 500 roughly doubled. Buffett’s famous patience apparently ran out when it came to StoneCo.
Sold: Globe Life Inc. (GL)
Globe Life is a traditional life and health insurance company that focuses primarily on middle-market customers. Formerly known as Torchmark until a name change in August 2019, Globe Life has been a constant Berkshire Hathaway holding since the first quarter of 2001, but that streak has come to an end after more than 22 years. After Berkshire cut its stake by about two-thirds in the third quarter of 2023, Buffett dumped all of his remaining 831,014 shares in the fourth quarter. Globe Life was a classic Buffett long-term play, generating an 812% total return since the beginning of 2001.
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10 Stocks Warren Buffett Just Bought and Sold originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 02/15/24: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
