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Warren Buffet, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., speaks during the virtual Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting seen on a laptop computer in Arlington, Virginia, on Saturday, May 2, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg
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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire trims stake in Apple, quietly builds positions in Chevron, Verizon and Marsh & McLennan

  • Berkshire Hathaway bought stock in Verizon Communications, insurance broker Marsh & McLennan and Chevron
  • Berkshire trimmed its stake in Apple to about US$120 billion at the end of 2020
Warren Buffett
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway cut its Apple holding during the last few months of the year. The conglomerate also revealed three new buys that it snapped up in secret.

Berkshire bought stock in Verizon Communications, insurance broker Marsh & McLennan and Chevron, bets that were granted confidential status and not revealed in a third-quarter regulatory filing, according to an updated document released Tuesday. The news of the investments sent the shares of those three companies up in aftermarket trading.

The Apple stake reduction left Berkshire with a holding valued at about US$120 billion at the end of 2020, according to another filing. The iPhone maker remains Berkshire’s biggest single stock holding.

Buffett and his investment deputies, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, reshaped the portfolio over the last year as the coronavirus pandemic struck the US.

The company was heavily invested in the banking sector, which has done well in the pandemic but is exposed to consumer finances and commercial real estate. The conglomerate has spent recent months lightening up on some of those lenders, while maintaining bets on firms such as Bank of America.

Berkshire cut a few bank holdings, exiting JPMorgan, PNC Financial Services Group and M&T Bank while slashing its Wells Fargo stake by 59 per cent. The company also shifted recent bets on drug makers by increasing a stake in Merck, Abbvie and Bristol-Myers Squibb. It ended a recent investment in Pfizer.

Berkshire exited a bet on Barrick Gold. The investment was a surprise when it was revealed last year, given Buffett’s years of chiding the precious metal. The company also trimmed an investment in General Motors, cutting that holding to a stake valued at roughly US$3 billion at the end of the fourth quarter.

Some of the new stakes were sizeable. Berkshire held an investment in Chevron valued at nearly US$4.1 billion at the end of 2020, while its Marsh & McLennan bet was valued at US$499 million. Berkshire accumulated a US$8.6 billion stake in Verizon, a company that it had previously bet on but cut in 2019.

Verizon stock was up roughly 2.7 per cent to US$55.59 at 6:03pm in New York, while Chevron gained 2.4 per cent. Marsh & McLennan climbed less than 1 per cent to US$115 at 4:58pm.

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