Warren Buffett took a huge stake in Verizon stock while dumping JPMorgan stock entirely, according to a regulatory filing that reveals buys and sells in the closely watched Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) stock portfolio.
X
In Q4, Buffett opened new stakes in Verizon (VZ), Chevron (CVX), Marsh & McLennan (MMC) and EW Scripps (SSP).
The new Verizon stake is big: – Buffett paid $8.62 billion for the 147 million shares. It now accounts for 3% of the portfolio, making it the No. 6 stock by number of shares held.
Berkshire dumped entirely Pfizer (PFE), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Barrick Gold (GOLD), M&T Bank (MTB) and PNC Financial (PNC).
The conglomerate grew stakes by 117% in T-Mobile (TMUS), 34% in Kroger (KR), 28% in Merck (MRK), 20% in AbbVie (ABBV), 11% in Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), and 1% in RH (RH).
Buffett cut a stake in Apple (AAPL) by 6%. It remains the No. 1 stock in his portfolio by market value and No. 2 stock by number of shares held, at 10.6% of the portfolio. He kept an Amazon (AMZN) stake steady.
IBD Live: A New Tool For Daily Stock Market Analysis
Warren Buffett Stocks
Shares of Verizon rose 2.7% and T-Mobile added 1.1% in late trading on the stock market today. Apple dipped 0.1%, while Chevron rallied 2.3% after hours. Merck, Bristol Myers and AbbVie all edged up 0.3%.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Q4 13-F closes out the books on a wild 2020, when Buffett made a series of surprise moves. He poured $9 billion into stock buybacks in Q3 and $5.1 billion in Q2, in a big investing shift. He dumped all his airline stocks, including Delta Air Lines (DAL), as the pandemic gutted air travel.
While shedding or trimming several bank stocks, Berkshire’s Buffett plowed more than $2 billion into Bank of America (BAC) in Q3, turning it into his No. 1 stock by number of shares.
In other atypical moves, Buffett took a stake in new IPO Snowflake (SNOW) while buying a gold stock, Barrick Gold (GOLD), for the first time.
But the stock buybacks and purchases meant investors saw something they are not used to: a dip in Berkshire’s cash pile. It went to $145.7 billion in Q3 from a record high of $146.6 billion in Q2.
Find Aparna Narayanan on Twitter at @IBD_Aparna.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
Warren Buffett Stocks: What’s Inside Berkshire Hathaway’s Portfolio?
Warren Buffett Doubles Down On Major Reversal In Investing Strategy
Is The Ultimate Warren Buffett Stock A Buy Right Now?
Warren Buffett Stocks: Who Joins Nvidia, Alibaba, Facebook On This Screen?
