AAPL And Buffett — February 15, 2023

Locator: 10002Buffett.

Bought more …. 

Lots of links:

• Josh Funk, Yahooo!Finance 
• quick sale of TSM, Charlotte Yang, Cindy Wang, Bloomberg: 
• full list; Brian Baker, Bankrate:  
• little-known stock portfolio; one of the better links, Markets Insider 
• Fox Business: https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/buffetts-firm-adds-more-apple-slashes-chipmaker-adds-banks
• excellent; with list, ZeroHedge:
• Akane Otani, The Wall Street Journal: 

From The WSJ:

Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway sold more shares than it bought in the final quarter of 2022. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company added to its positions in Apple Inc., Louisiana-Pacific Corp. and Paramount Global in the final three months of the year while trimming its positions in eight companies, including U.S. Bancorp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

The moves were revealed in Berkshire’s 13F filing, a form that institutional investors that manage more than $100 million are required to file to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission within 45 days of the end of each quarter. The filing only reflects investors’ equity holdings as of the end of the previous quarter—not necessarily what their portfolios look like today. Still, many investors view Berkshire’s 13Fs as a way to get a sense of how Mr. Buffett, Mr. Buffett’s deputies and his right-hand man Charlie Munger are approaching the markets.

Unlike during the third quarter, Berkshire didn’t open new positions in any companies in the final three months of the year. Because of Mr. Buffett’s prominence, shares of companies that Berkshire has opened new positions in sometimes get a boost following the disclosure.

The company reduced its position in chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 51.8 million shares, or roughly 86%, a notable move considering Berkshire only began investing in the company during the third quarter.

It also decreased its stakes in financial stocks U.S. Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., and Ally Financial. Analysts had been questioning if Berkshire would further cut its stake in financial stocks since it reduced its stake in the Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, which it had been invested in since 2006, by more than half last year.

Berkshire also trimmed its position in videogame maker Activision-Blizzard Inc., Chevron Corp., healthcare company McKesson Corp. and grocery-chain Kroger Co

Despite the move, Chevron remains one of Berkshire’s five biggest holdings, following Apple and Bank of America Corp. 

 The most interesting data point:

Without question, this was the most interesting story this quarter; it has been posted previously but it looks like few are following it: link here.

Buffett also owns an under-the-radar stock portfolio worth $5.9 billion through Berkshire Hathaway. The portfolio is managed by New England Asset Management, which provides investment management services that are tailored to insurance companies.

New England Asset Management was acquired by General Re in 1995. Then, in 1998, Berkshire Hathaway acquired General Re for $22 billion, making New England Asset Management a wholly owned subsidiary of Buffett's conglomerate.

While Buffett has no influence over the $6 billion portfolio managed by New England Asset Management, the portfolio does have some striking similarities to Buffett's $300 billion stock portfolio.

For one, it's extremely concentrated, with its top 10 positions making up 92% of the portfolio. The top 10 holdings of Berkshire Hathaway's main stock portfolio make up 87% of its assets.

The top ten:

• Cisco: $9 million
  
• JP Morgan: $11 million
  
• Bank of New York Mellon: $12 million
  
• Microsoft: $13 million
  
• Diageo: $39 million
  
• HP: $410 million
  
• Chevron: $638 million
  
• US Bancorp: $668 million
  
• Bank of America: $687 million
  
• Apple: $2.84 billion

When one looks at that holding, one understands why Buffett sold what he sold from BRK in most recent quarter. It also shows that Buffett owns even more AAPL than most might think.