OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett offered more details Wednesday about the stocks he’s been selling lately, including confirming he sold more than 389 million Apple shares in the second quarter.
Berkshire Hathaway still owns 400 million shares of the iPhone maker, making it the largest position in the conglomerate’s stock portfolio, according to the company’s most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The news that Buffett had unloaded a large portion of Apple came out in the Berkshires results report earlier this month, but the exact number of shares he sold was not clear until Wednesday.
In addition to the big Apple sale, Berkshire has also trimmed its investments in Bank of America, Chevron, Capital One, Floor & Decor Holdings, T-Mobile and Louisiana Pacific recently. Berkshire also unloaded its nearly $1 billion Snowflake investments.
As a result of all the selling, Berkshire’s already huge cash pile has swelled to a record $277 billion.
But Berkshire sunk more cash into insurer Chubb and oil producer Occidental Petroleum, while disclosing smaller new investments in aerospace component maker Heico Corp. and cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty.
The quarterly filings do not specify which actions Buffett took and which actions were taken by one of the two other investment managers at Berkshire, but Buffett typically handles all of the largest investments worth more than $1 billion.
And many investors are watching Buffett’s actions closely because he has such a remarkably successful track record over the decades.
In addition to its nearly $300 billion stock portfolio, Berkshire owns several major insurance companies, including Geico, one of the nation’s largest railroads in BNSF, a collection of major utilities and a selection of manufacturing and retail businesses. Its holdings include well-known brands such as Dairy Queen, Helzberg Diamonds and NetJets.