Continued Sale of Bank Stocks
New Purchase of 'Corona Beer' Constellation Brands
Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway (Berkshire) was found to have continuously sold bank stocks such as Bank of America (BoA) instead of holding onto Apple shares in the fourth quarter of last year.
According to the holdings report (Form 13F) that Berkshire submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the 14th (local time), Berkshire held 300 million shares of Apple as of the end of the fourth quarter last year, with no changes in its stake during the quarter. The value of the Apple shares held was $75.1 billion (108 trillion KRW) as of the end of last year.
Berkshire had been selling off large amounts of Apple shares until the third quarter of last year, drawing significant attention from Wall Street. However, even after the large-scale share sales, Apple still accounted for 28% of Berkshire’s total publicly traded stock assets, maintaining the largest investment proportion among individual stocks.
Bank of America shares, which Berkshire had also been continuously selling along with Apple, continued to be sold in the fourth quarter of last year. In the filing, Berkshire disclosed that it sold 117.5 million shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter, reducing its stake to 8.9%. The remaining stake was valued at $31.9 billion (46 trillion KRW) as of the end of last year. Berkshire also reduced its stake in Citigroup by selling 40.6 million shares in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Berkshire increased its stakes in broadcasting service provider Sirius XM and energy company Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter of last year. It was also revealed that Berkshire newly purchased shares in Constellation Brands, famous for its Corona beer.
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