Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (ticker: BRK.A, BRK.B) is one of the most closely watched stocks on the planet, in part because of its iconic co-founder Warren Buffett. Thanks to a record of tremendous long-term performance, many investors seek to emulate the strategy of Berkshire and Buffett in their own portfolio.
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It’s hard to know what day-to-day decision-making is like for Warren Buffett and his staff, but we do get a regular glimpse at what they’re buying and selling thanks to financial regulations. Each quarter, Berkshire Hathaway must file a 13F form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. And while they are sometimes several weeks old by the time they are made public, these documents provide a unique look into what companies are in favor with Warren Buffett based on what Berkshire is buying — and which ones are falling out of favor as Berkshire reduces its stake.
On the whole, this seems to be a fairly quiet filing for Buffett and Berkshire. A host of longtime favorites in the financial sector, including Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) and American Express Co. (AXP), saw no change in their share count. Nor did other high-profile investments, including consumer giant Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) and telecom T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS).
That said, there are some noteworthy buys and a few outright exits as Buffett & Co. sold their entire position. Here’s a list of transactions that offer changes in the recent 13F filing that dropped in May, based on data that was current as of March 31:
| Stock | Q1 Change in Shares | % Change |
| Chubb Ltd. (CB) | +25,923,840 | New |
| Liberty Media Corp. Series A + C (LSXMA, LXSMK) | +13,883,785 (LXSMA) +25,125,387 (LXSMK) |
+65.2% (LXSMA) +56.0% (LXSMK) |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) | +4,302,324 | +1.8% |
| Apple Inc. (AAPL) | -116,191,550 | -12.8% |
| Chevron Corp. (CVX) | -3,113,119 | -2.5% |
| HP Inc. (HPQ) | -22,852,715 | Sold all |
| Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX) | -446,962 | -6.3% |
| Paramount Global (PARA) | -55,790,723 | -88.1% |
Chubb Ltd. (CB)
Investors learned in Berkshire’s latest filing that the firm now holds a $6.8 billion stake in insurance giant Chubb. That position isn’t entirely new, however, as the firm had requested confidentiality on some third-quarter stock purchases. With about 26 million of the roughly 406 million in shares outstanding, that’s good for more than 6% of the entire company — and a figure that is higher than it was when first disclosed as a “mystery holding” at the end of last year. The recent addition plus continued accumulation of shares seems to be a significant vote of confidence in CB.
Liberty Media Corp. Series A + C (LSXMA, LXSMK)
Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett have been players in satellite radio player Sirius since as early as 2016, but the most recent moves represent a significant vote of confidence in the company. It owns both Class A LSXMA shares and Class C shares LSXMK shares, and both stakes rose by more than 50% after a significant accumulation in Q1. The combined stake was reported to be worth about $2.9 billion at the end of March — more than a third of the current market capitalization of the company.
[READ: Billionaire George Soros’ 7 Top Stock Picks in 2024.]
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY)
Berkshire added slightly to its stake in Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter, with the addition of just a few million shares more. But more significant is the fact that this addition boosts the overall stake of Buffett & Co. to more than 248 million shares worth $16.1 billion as of the end of the first quarter. Considering there are 887 million total shares, that’s almost 28% of all outstanding OXY stock.
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
For the second quarter in a row, Berkshire cut back on the amount of Apple stock it has in its portfolio. But while it sold about 10 million shares in Q4, a mere 1% of its position, it sold more than 115 million shares this time around. To be clear, Apple is still a significant part of Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway’s investing strategy, with more than $135 billion worth of AAPL as of the end of Q1. As a result, this may be more akin to “profit taking” than an effort to abandon ship here. Berkshire’s financials show a massive war chest after this transaction, so the plan could simply be to diversify into other companies — while still keeping a foothold in AAPL.
Chevron Corp. (CVX)
Berkshire Hathaway cut back on energy giant Chevron to the tune of about 3 million shares. On a percentage basis, however, that’s a bit more than 2% of its prior stake and brings the position in CVX to “only” 123 million shares as of the end of March. With 1.83 billion shares outstanding, that’s good for about 7% of this megacap oil and gas giant. With persistently high energy prices and a generous 4.1% dividend, there’s reason to think that Warren Buffett and his colleagues will keep their finger in the Chevron pie for a bit longer even if there was a modest drawdown in shares across Q1.
HP Inc. (HPQ)
Historically, Buffett was reluctant to get into the more volatile tech sector and favored income-rich sectors like financials instead. The portfolio has changed a bit — most notably via a major stake in aforementioned tech giant Apple as a nod to the potential of the sector. Berkshire remains selective, however, as evidenced by the fact it jettisoned its entire HP stake of 23 million shares in Q1. Shares have been choppy — and interestingly enough seem to be up nicely since March, when Berkshire exited — but clearly Buffett & Co. aren’t interested in sticking around to see what happens in this much-maligned printer manufacturer.
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX)
A relatively minor holding, Louisiana-Pacific is a building products specialist that mainly makes its money in the siding business. The position is not terribly large but has nevertheless declined from 2.7 million shares at the end of 2023 to just under 2.3 million shares at the end of Q1. Shares are up about 50% in the last six months, however, so the total value of the position is actually up slightly for Berkshire from Q4 to Q1 — so this could just be a bit of book balancing considering LPX is only valued at $6.5 billion even after this recent run.
Paramount Global (PARA)
Buffett made waves in May by admitting that Berkshire sold off the entirety of its Paramount position for a significant loss. Buffett was blunt about whose fault it was, too, saying he was “100% responsible for the Paramount decision” in a meeting with shareholders. At the end of 2023, Berkshire owned 63.3 million shares of Paramount but has steadily cut back on its position recently — including a huge 15 million drop in shares in Q1. While the latest SEC filing using March 31 data doesn’t indicate a complete exit, the recent comments seem to show that Q1 was the beginning of the end for Paramount — and based on Buffett’s mea culpa, Q2 filings are expected to show the position to be completely zeroed out.
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Update 05/28/24: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
