Holdings decreased again! Buffett sold Apple in the second quarter, but built a new position in beauty stocks
2024-08-15
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The size of U.S. stock holdings of Berkshire Hathaway (hereinafter referred to as "Berkshire"), owned by "stock god" Buffett, has declined for two consecutive quarters for the first time in two years.
On August 15, Beijing time, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Berkshire submitted its second quarter holdings report (13F) as of June 30, 2024. Regulatory documents show that as of June 30, 2024, Berkshire's total U.S. stock holdings were $279.969 billion, down about $51.7 billion from $331.680 billion at the end of the first quarter.
This is the first time in two years that Berkshire has reduced its U.S. stock holdings for two consecutive quarters. Earlier, Berkshire's 2024 second quarter report showed that the company sold about $75.5 billion in stocks. At the same time, Berkshire's cash reserves hit a record high of $276.9 billion in the second quarter. Berkshire has sold more stocks than it bought for seven consecutive quarters.
Statistics from 13F data platform Whalewisdom show that in the second quarter of this year, the company bought two new stocks, increased its holdings of five stocks, reduced its holdings of eight stocks, and liquidated two stocks. Berkshire's holding concentration has declined, with the top ten holdings accounting for 91.19% of the total holdings to 90.48%.
From this 13F form, we can see that Buffett continues to withdraw from the US technology sector and increase investment in energy, insurance and beauty. As of the end of the second quarter, Berkshire's top ten holdings were Apple, Bank of America, American Express, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Kraft Heinz, Moody's, Chubb Insurance, and DaVita Healthcare.
Specifically, Buffett sold off a large amount of his shares in Apple in the second quarter. Berkshire reduced its holdings of Apple shares from 789 million shares in the first quarter to about 390 million shares in the second quarter, a decrease of 50.57%; the value of Berkshire's Apple shares was US$84.2 billion, a decrease of 51.69% from US$174.3 billion at the end of the first quarter.
In addition, Berkshire's fifth largest holding, Chevron, was also reduced by 4.3697 million shares. Paramount Global, one of the three largest commercial broadcasting companies in the United States, and Snowflake, an American cloud computing company, were liquidated in one click.
In terms of increased holdings, the largest increase was in the sixth largest holding, Occidental Petroleum. Berkshire Hathaway increased its holdings of the stock by 7.2634 million shares in the second quarter, with its market value increasing by nearly US$460 million, far exceeding the 4.3 million shares increased in the first quarter; the second was Chubb Insurance, which increased its holdings by more than 1.1 million shares after becoming Berkshire Hathaway's ninth largest holding in the US stock market in the first quarter of this year.
It is worth noting that in the second quarter, Buffett also established positions for the first time and bought shares in ULTA Beauty, the largest discount cosmetics retailer in the United States, and Heiko Aerospace, an aerospace company, with holdings valued at US$266 million and US$185 million, respectively.
The Paper reporter Ding Xinqing
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