Berkshire Hathaway, led by legendary investor Warren Buffett, is set to disclose its third-quarter equity holdings. Analysts anticipate that the conglomerate may have made additional sales of General Motors stock – a disappointing investment for Berkshire. The full details will be revealed in the quarterly 13-F filing, which is mandatory for large investors like Berkshire and is expected to be submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission within 45 days after the quarter’s end.
While this quarter wasn’t particularly active in terms of buying and selling stocks, Berkshire did make some notable moves. The conglomerate purchased around $1 billion worth of financial stocks in the period, as stated in a securities filing. However, purchases only amounted to $1.7 billion, with sales reaching $7 billion. These figures were reported in Berkshire’s recent 10-Q filing.
Since the beginning of the year, Berkshire has been a net seller of approximately $23 billion worth of stocks. This is a significant shift compared to the previous year, where the conglomerate made net purchases of $49 billion within the first nine months. Despite these developments, Berkshire’s Class A shares closed at $531,288 on Monday, experiencing a marginal decrease of 0.1% during the session.
Some of the sales and purchases made by Berkshire have already been publicly disclosed. For example, previous filings indicate that the conglomerate sold approximately $2 billion worth of Chevron (CVX) stock and around $500 million worth of HPInc. (HPQ) stock.
It is worth noting that Berkshire’s largest holdings – Apple (AAPL), Bank of America (BAC), Coca-Cola (KO), and American Express (AXP) – remained unchanged during this period, as reported in the 10-Q filing.
Berkshire Hathaway Reduces General Motors (GM) Holding
Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational conglomerate led by Warren Buffett, recently made a noticeable move in its investment portfolio by reducing its position in General Motors (GM). During the mid to late 2010s, Berkshire Hathaway accumulated approximately 60 million shares of GM. However, as of June 30, this holding has been reduced by more than half to 22 million shares. It is possible that Berkshire Hathaway sold even more shares in the third quarter.
It should be noted that Berkshire Hathaway tends to gradually transition out of positions over multiple quarters. In the case of GM, this decision may be attributed to its lackluster performance for Berkshire. With a cost basis of around $30 per share, GM’s stock has not generated significant returns. Despite a 0.2% increase on Monday, GM’s stock is down 20% year-to-date, trading at levels last seen in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020.
Industry insiders and Berkshire Hathaway observers believe that this move was likely initiated by either Todd Combs or Ted Weschler, who oversee approximately 10% of Berkshire Hathaway’s equity portfolio. Warren Buffett, who manages about 90% of the portfolio, has never displayed a strong affinity for the highly competitive and capital-intensive auto industry.
While Berkshire Hathaway’s latest 10-Q filing revealed investments of over $1 billion in financial stocks during the period, it did not specify which shares were purchased. Investors eagerly await the upcoming 13-F filing for further clarification on this matter.