Ever since Berkshire Hathaway began selling stock in Apple and Bank of America during 2024, investors have wondered when it would stop.
CEO Warren Buffett’s followers should get a fresh read on Berkshire’s holdings in Apple, Bank of America, and other stocks in its $300 billion equity portfolio late Friday.
Berkshire, along with most other institutional investors, will disclose its equity holdings for U.S-listed companies in a 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The deadline is Friday, and Berkshire’s report likely will be released after the close of trading.
The filing will also show any new stock purchases by Berkshire in the period, although investors looking for a big new holding could be disappointed. Buffett’s company did little buying and a lot of selling of stocks in the first three quarters of 2024. It bought just $5.8 billion of stocks while selling $133 billion, according to its third quarter 10-Q report.
Berkshire sharply cut its holding in Apple during the first nine months of 2024 — by about two-thirds to 300 million shares, a 2% stake. The company also reduced its interest in Bank of America by about 25% from July through mid-October to 766 million shares. The Apple sales represented the bulk of Berkshire’s equity sales during the first nine months of 2024.
Berkshire watchers probably are more interested in the Apple stake, which has been the company’s largest equity investment and its biggest winner in dollar terms. Based on Buffett’s comments at Berkshire’s annual meeting in May 2024, it’s likely that if the Apple stake was cut in the fourth quarter, it remained at 200 million shares or more. Apple shares finished 2024 at $250 and now trade at $228.
At the meeting, Buffett said that at “the end of the year, I would think it extremely likely that Apple is the largest common stockholding.”
It’s possible that Buffett changed his mind and sold more Apple stock, and it’s also possible that Berkshire finished selling in the third quarter and still holds 300 million shares.
Berkshire’s second-largest equity holding is American Express. That stake of 151.6 million shares totaled about $45 billion at year-end — assuming no change in the holding. The Apple stake would have to have been about 200 million shares to exceed the value of the Amex interest.
The last filing by Berkshire on Bank of America was in mid-October, when the stake fell below 10%. The company had to file with the SEC for its series of reductions from July through October, when the stake was above that threshold.
Barron’s has written the Bank of America stake may not fall below 700 million shares, which would be a roughly 9% reduction from the third-quarter stake. That’s because Berkshire got those 700 million shares through lucrative warrants, which were issued in connection with $5 billion of preferred stock that it bought from Bank of America about 14 years ago.
The cost basis on those 700 million shares is $7 a share, far below Bank of America’s current stock price of $46. Selling those shares would result in a large tax bite for Berkshire.
In the third quarter, Berkshire initiated a $550 million holding in Domino’s Pizza, its only notable purchase. That buy likely was done by either of Berkshire investment managers, Todd Combs or Ted Weschler. Together, the two run about 10% of the $300 billion equity portfolio with Buffett, handling the rest.
Stock positions of $3 billion or less often are taken by Combs and Weschler, who operate independently of Buffett.
Berkshire this past week disclosed a fresh purchase of Occidental Petroleum, in which it now owns a 28% stake, and a sale of DaVita, in which it holds a 45% interest. DaVita is a top provider of kidney dialysis. Those transactions occurred in the past week.