Warren Buffett acquired a large stake in Verizon’s shares while entirely disposing of JPMorgan’s shares, according to a regulatory document that reveals purchases and sales in the closely watched market Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) stock portfolio.
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In the fourth quarter, Buffett opened new holdings in Verizon (VZ), Chevron (CVX), Marsh and McLennan (MMC) and EW Scripps (SSP).
Verizon’s new share is large: – Buffett paid $ 8.62 billion for the 147 million shares. It now represents 3% of the portfolio, making it the 6th position by number of shares held.
Berkshire abandoned entirely Pfizer (PFE), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Barrick Gold (GOLD), Banco M&T (MTB) and Financial PNC (PNC).
The conglomerate grew 117% in participation in Mobile tee (TMUS), 34% in Kroger (KR), 28% in Merck (MRK), 20% in AbbVie (ABBV), 11% in Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), and 1% in HR (HR).
Buffett cut a stake in Apple (AAPL) by 6%. It remains the first share in its portfolio by market value and the second by number of shares held, at 10.6% of the portfolio. He kept a Amazon (AMZN) stable bet.
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The shares of Verizon rose 2.7% and T-Mobile, 1.1% at the end of the session on the stock exchange today. Apple fell 0.1%, while Chevron rose 2.3% after hours. Merck, Bristol Myers and AbbVie increased by 0.3%.
Berkshire Hathaway’s fourth quarter 13-F closes the books in a wild 2020, when Buffett made a series of surprise moves. He poured $ 9 billion into share buybacks in the third quarter and $ 5.1 billion in the second quarter, in a major investment shift. He disposed of all shares of the airline, including Delta Airlines (DAL), since the pandemic destroyed air travel.
By divesting or cutting several bank shares, Buffett of Berkshire invested more than $ 2 billion in Bank of America (BAC) in the third quarter, transforming it into its No. 1 share by number of shares.
In other atypical stocks, Buffett bet on a new IPO Snowflake (SNOW) when buying a gold stock, Barrick Gold (GOLD) for the first time.
But the buybacks and stock purchases meant that investors saw something they are not used to: a drop in Berkshire’s money stack. It dropped to $ 145.7 billion in the third quarter, from a record high of $ 146.6 billion in the second quarter.
Find Aparna Narayanan on Twitter at @IBD_Aparna.
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