Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought Verizon and Chevron. Here’s what else he marketed.

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway

recently made significant changes to its portfolio, in addition to buying

Verizon Communications

and

Chevron,

and selling some

Apple

inventory.

In the fourth quarter, Berkshire (ticker:

BRK.B

) added to positions in

Merck

(MRK),

Bristol-Myers Squibb

(BMY), and

AbbVie

(ABBV), and came out of an investment in

Pfizer

(PFE). Buffett’s company also continued to cut

Wells Fargo

(WFC) and sold all of its

PNC Financial Services

(PNC) shares. Elsewhere, Berkshire bought more

Kroger

(KR) and reduced its investment in

General Motors

(GM).

Buffett’s company disclosed the stock trades, among others, on a form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Berkshire Hathaway did not immediately respond to a request for comment on investment changes.

The company increased its investments in Merck, Bristol-Myers and AbbVie by 28.1% to 28.7 million shares, 11.2% to 33.3 million shares and 20% to 25.5 million shares, respectively. Berkshire Hathaway sold all 3.7 million Pfizer shares in the fourth quarter that it owned at the end of the third.

Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stake in Wells Fargo by 59%, to 52.4 million shares, and sold all 1.9 million PNC shares it owned.

Buffett’s company increased its stake in the Kroger grocery store by 34.3%, ending 2020 with 33.5 million shares. Berkshire cut its stake in GM by 9.4% to 72.5 million shares.

Inside Scoop is a regular feature of Barron that covers stock transactions by corporate executives and board members – so-called insiders – as well as large shareholders, politicians and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose share trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.