2023-08-15 09:19:44
Warren Buffett’s financial holding Berkshire Hathaway has released transaction data for the first quarter of 2023. should from Form 13-F filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the American service Whale Wisdom, which tracks the operations of the largest funds, the value of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio in the second quarter rose to $348.19 billion from $325.11 billion a quarter earlier. At the same time, the conglomerate sold more shares in three months than it bought, calculated Bloomberg agency. The difference between sales and purchases was $7.98 billion.
According to the GuruFocus service, the largest share in the portfolio was still occupied by the IT sector (53.25%). It is followed by finance (21.86%), consumer goods (10.94%), energy (9.34%), communications services (2.16%) and healthcare (1.06%). Compared to the first quarter, the dominance of the technology sector in Buffett’s portfolio has become even more pronounced.
Berkshire Hathaway held a total of 51 companies in the second quarter, down from 52 a quarter earlier. Apple retained leadership in terms of share in the investment portfolio (51% versus 46.44% a quarter earlier), over the past quarter, Berkshire Hathaway’s share in big tech has risen in price by $26.6 billion. The second and third places were taken by Bank of America (8.51%) and American Express (7.59%). On the fourth line Coca Cola with a share of 6.92%. Closes the top 5 Chevron with a share of 5.56%. The top 10 companies account for 91.26% of the total investment portfolio, according to WhaleWisdom data.
At Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in May 2023, Buffett said that there are non-public companies in the conglomerate’s portfolio. This means that the share of public companies is actually less than what is shown in the reports. Buffett mentioned this following one of the participants in the meeting drew attention to a very large share of Apple.
Buffett’s bet on the construction sector
Berkhire Hathaway added three real estate developers to its portfolio in the second quarter. In 2022, once morest the backdrop of rising rates, the sector was going through difficult times, but stocks have started to recover this year, notes financial times. For developers, there is now a favorable situation, when the volume of sales of new buildings is at a fairly high level once morest the backdrop of a shortage of supply in the secondary market.
The Oracle of Omaha bought just under 5.97 million shares of a construction company D.R. Hortonat the end of the reporting period, their value reached $726.45 million. The share in the portfolio was 0.21%.
Shares of DR Horton jumped 3.01% to $126.99 following the news of Berkshire Hathaway’s interest.
Berkshire Hathaway also took a position in property developers NVR and Lennar. The conglomerate bought 11.11 thousand shares of NVR, at the end of the second quarter, the value of the block of shares of this company in the portfolio was $70.57 million. The portfolio also included 152.57 thousand shares of Lennar class B in the amount of $17.24 million.
It is not clear from the report whether Warren Buffett himself purchased the shares or whether the deals were made by two other managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weshler. Analysts who follow Berkshire Hathaway typically say that Combs or Weschler are buying $1 billion or less.
Reduction of a share in Activision Blizzard
In the second quarter, Buffett decided to get rid of 70% of the shares Activision Blizzard. The conglomerate sold 34.78 million shares of the game studio, reducing its stake in the portfolio from 1.3% to 0.35%. This left Berkshire Hathaway with 14.66 million Activision Blizzard shares worth just under $1.24 billion at the end of the quarter.
In the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio, the developer of Call of Duty and other well-known games appeared in the fourth quarter of 2021. Buffett managed to conclude a deal before the announcement of the news of the takeover by Microsoft for $68.7 billion, following which the quotes of Activision Blizzard took off almost 40%. The deal was subsequently opposed by US and UK antitrust regulators, but in July of this year, a US court refused block uptake. In the UK, following that, they announced their readiness to approve the deal when finalizing its terms. Thus, it remains only to obtain the consent of the British regulator, following which the takeover may still take place. Deadline to close the company’s deal extended until October 18, 2023.
Reducing stake in Chevron and purchases in Occidental Petroleum
In the second quarter, Berkshire Hathaway decided to get rid of 9.29 million shares of the oil giant Chevron, reducing the position by 7% compared to the previous quarter. As a result, the total share of Chevron in the conglomerate’s investment portfolio decreased from 6.65% to 5.56%, the remaining securities at the end of the quarter were worth $19.37 billion.
Shares of another oil company – Occidental Petroleum Buffett, on the contrary, continued to buy more. In the second quarter, he purchased 12.42 million securities, but the total share in the portfolio fell from 4.07% to 3.78%. The total market value of the package at the end of the quarter was estimated at $13.18 billion.
Although Berkshire Hathaway owned 23.92% of Occidental Petroleum at the end of the quarter, Buffett has made it clear on several occasions that he has no intention of acquiring a controlling stake in the oil giant. “We wouldn’t know what to do with it,” he noted.
What other stocks did Buffett buy?
In the past quarter, the “oracle from Omaha”, in addition to Occidental Petroleum, bought more shares of a banking holding Capital One. The report shows 2.55 million new shares, and Berkshire Hathaway’s position in the company increased 25% in the quarter. The total value of the package at the end of the quarter was estimated at $1.36 billion.
Buffett first invested in Capital One in the first quarter of 2023, buying 9.92 million shares worth $1.04 billion. In the spring, when the banking sector was hit hard, Capital One managed to hold its own, while stocks of many other representatives of the financial sector strongly fell.
An investment in Capital One, which is one of the largest issuers of Visa and Mastercard credit cards in the US, might testify regarding Berkshire Hathway’s confidence in the financial health of American consumers, even as the economy slows.
What stocks did Buffett sell
The famous investor in the second quarter completely closed positions in the shares of three companies. In particular, Berkshire Hathaway sold 2.29 million shares of the corporation McKessonwho works in the healthcare industry. Previously, it occupied 0.25% of the portfolio.
Buffett also completely got rid of 404.91 thousand shares of the consulting company Marsh & McLennan and 51.3 thousand shares of an investment company Vitesse Energy. Prior to the sale, Marsh & McLennan occupied 0.02% of the portfolio, while Vitesse Energy’s share was less than 0.01%.
In addition to Chevron and Activision Blizzard, Buffett has decided to cut stakes in three other companies. In particular, the position General Motors decreased by 45%, 18 million shares were sold. The share in the portfolio fell from 0.45% to 0.24%. The market value of the remaining 22 million shares at the end of the quarter was estimated at $848.32 million.
In the first quarter, Buffett also partially sold the following securities:
chemical company Celanese – sale of a 39% stake (3.46 million), the share in the portfolio decreased from 0.3% to 0.18%, at the end of the quarter it was worth $620.52 million;
insurer Globe Life — the position decreased by 60%, or 3.84 million shares. The share in the portfolio was reduced from 0.22% to 0.08%, its value amounted to $275.76 million.
1692096777
#Buffett #sells #stake #Activision #Blizzard #buys #property #developers
