Berkshire Hathaway reduces its holdings in Apple in the fourth quarter and increases its holdings in energy stocks. "Mysterious new positions" emerge again.

According to the 13F filing released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the market closed on Wednesday, "stock god" Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reduced its holdings of Apple, a major holding of the company, in the fourth quarter of last year and increased its holdings of energy stocks. However, Apple remains the largest holding, accounting for 50% of the disclosed holdings. In addition, the company still keeps a major investment confidential, and some media speculate that it is an investment in financial stocks.

Reduction in Apple Holdings Possibly Due to Overweight Position

Data shows that Berkshire Hathaway sold 10 million shares of Apple in the last three months of 2023, accounting for about 1% of the company's Apple holdings, reducing its stake in Apple to 5.9%.

However, Apple is still the largest holding of Berkshire Hathaway, with the company holding 906 million shares of Apple stock, worth about $174 billion, accounting for 50% of its holdings. Although Buffett has been advocating for Berkshire Hathaway's investment in Apple, the media believes that the investment in Apple may have been made by Berkshire Hathaway investment managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who manage some of Berkshire Hathaway's investments.

Some media believe that Berkshire Hathaway's holdings of Apple stock have become too large in its investment portfolio. As Apple's stock price has risen along with other large tech companies, Berkshire Hathaway investors have been wondering how much Buffett and his deputies would allow the Apple holdings to grow.

However, in recent months, Apple's stock price has not kept pace with that of other large tech companies. Recently, Apple lost its position as the highest-valued company in the U.S. market to Microsoft. Apple also faces a series of challenges, including regulatory scrutiny of its App Store policies, declining sales in the Chinese market, and investor concerns about its growth prospects. Several analysts have downgraded their ratings on the stock. Apple fell 0.56% after hours on Wednesday.

Reduction in Paramount and HP Holdings, Increase in Energy Stocks with DR Horton Sold

Berkshire Hathaway reduced its holdings in Paramount Global by 32%, holding approximately 63.3 million shares as of the end of December, causing Paramount's stock price to fall nearly 7% after hours. HP, on the other hand, fell slightly by 0.28%.

Another company that Berkshire Hathaway reduced its holdings in is HP, with the company cutting its stake in HP by about 77% in the fourth quarter, leaving only 22.8 million shares. Berkshire Hathaway initially purchased this technology hardware stock in April 2022. Many Buffett observers have suspected that the stock god intends to completely sell off this holding.

Berkshire Hathaway cleared its positions in homebuilder DR Horton, insurance company Globe Life, insurance and investment company Markel, and Brazilian credit card processing company StoneCo last quarter.

On the other hand, Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in Chevron by 15.8 million shares, bringing its total investment to 126 million shares, with a value of nearly $19 billion. This makes it the company's fifth-largest holding, reversing a series of reductions in the energy giant in previous quarters. Berkshire Hathaway sold about 13 million shares of Chevron in the third quarter. After performing well in 2022, Chevron fell 17% last year and has only risen 1% since 2024. Berkshire Hathaway also increased its investment in Phillips 66 and now holds 30% of the company.

Berkshire Hathaway also increased its stake in Sirius XM by 30.6 million shares, a growth of over 316%. Some media analysts speculate that this may be an arbitrage move, and this move is relatively small for Berkshire Hathaway. This investment may come from Buffett's two investment deputies, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.

According to the 13F filing, Berkshire Hathaway's top ten holdings are currently Apple, Bank of America, American Express, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Kraft Heinz, Moody's, DaVita, and Citigroup. Media analysis shows that Berkshire Hathaway has been increasing its holdings in energy stocks in recent quarters, and the only two stocks that have increased in the top ten holdings in the fourth quarter, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum, are also energy stocks.

Secret holdings for the second consecutive quarter, suspected purchase of financial stocks

Berkshire Hathaway has also obtained permission from the SEC for the second consecutive quarter to temporarily keep one or more holdings confidential; When the company makes large-scale investments, it applies to the SEC for such treatment because Berkshire Hathaway does not want other investors to rush to buy before the purchase is completed. Such requests are relatively rare for Berkshire Hathaway, and the last time it made a confidential purchase was in 2020 when it bought Chevron and Verizon. According to the 10Q document released in November last year, Berkshire Hathaway hinted that its secret investments may involve banks, financial companies, or insurance companies, as the company recently spent $1.2 billion on financial stocks, and Berkshire Hathaway has not disclosed where this money went.

Berkshire Hathaway is expected to disclose more information about its investments and business in the company's annual report and annual letter to shareholders, which will be released on February 24th. This will be the first letter to shareholders from Warren Buffett since his long-time partner Charlie Munger passed away on November 28th last year.