Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway nearly quadruples stake in Apple

Posted:
in AAPL Investors edited February 2017
Investor Warren Buffet bet big on Apple during the fourth quarter of 2016, as a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday reveals Berkshire Hathaway now owns more than 57 million shares of the tech giant.




The Oracle of Omaha nearly quadrupled his stake in the tech giant over the last three months of 2016, ending the year with 57.4 million shares worth roughly $6.64 billion as of Dec. 31, according to an SEC filing.

That figure is up from only 15.2 million shares worth about $1.7 billion in the prior quarter.

With AAPL shares trading at $135.01 at the end of trading on Tuesday, Buffett's chunk is valued at about $7.74 billion if the fund still holds the cache.

Alongside a buff to Apple holdings, Berkshire increased its position in airlines, with $2 billion investments in American Airlines Group, Delta Air Lines Inc, Southwest Airlines and United Continental Holdings, the filing shows.

Buffett tends to shy away from tech sector stocks, but that investing pattern is slowly changing. Last May, Berkshire took its first bite of Apple with a 9.81 million share buy which at the time was worth more than $1 billion. The fund increased holdings to the aforementioned 15.2 million AAPL shares in the September quarter.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Looks like the Oracle of Omaha knows whereof he speaks.
    retrogustoericthehalfbeewatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 22
    I find it more encouraging to have Buffet investing than Icahn. 
    retrogustoSolijbdragonradarthekatpscooter63watto_cobrastardustag
  • Reply 3 of 22
    JanNLJanNL Posts: 327member
    lkrupp said:
    Looks like the Oracle of Omaha knows whereof he speaks.
    blastdoor said:
    I find it more encouraging to have Buffet investing than Icahn. 
    Both true, especially with the hesitance of Buffet to invest in tech stocks it's caracteristic he chooses Apple.
    retrogustowatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 22
    This article is misleading (like many others around the web):  

    Warrant Buffett didn't personally buy Apple shares.  One of his investment lieutenants did.

    https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/ted-weschler-explains-berkshire-hathaways-investment-in-apple-to-german-magazine/





    anantksundaramdedgecko
  • Reply 5 of 22
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    nathant99 said:
    This article is misleading (like many others around the web):  

    Warrant Buffett didn't personally buy Apple shares.  One of his investment lieutenants did.

    https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/ted-weschler-explains-berkshire-hathaways-investment-in-apple-to-german-magazine/





    That is true. But I think that without his consent the purchased  wouldn't have happened and regardless warrant Buffett will get all of the credit
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 22
    lkrupp said:
    Looks like the Oracle of Omaha knows whereof he speaks.
    Like the Apple buy, hate the airlines, especially international airlines.  I can't see travel to or from the US increasingly with Trump as President.  I expect both business and tourism travel to take a hit.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 22
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    FWIW: 57 million is over 1% of the 5.25B shares outstanding.
  • Reply 8 of 22
    carnegiecarnegie Posts: 1,077member
    nathant99 said:
    This article is misleading (like many others around the web):  

    Warrant Buffett didn't personally buy Apple shares.  One of his investment lieutenants did.

    https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/ted-weschler-explains-berkshire-hathaways-investment-in-apple-to-german-magazine/





    We can't really be sure how much input Mr. Buffett had on various equity investments. Someone else may well have been the primary advocate for particular investments. Those investments may have been their idea and based on their research and expectations.

    But I suspect that Mr. Buffett, at the least, has signed off on any major equity investments. He - as Warren Buffett, not as Berkshire Hathaway - is listed on the (SEC Form) 13Fs as one of the institutional investment managers in connection with all of Berkshire Hathaway's Apple holdings just as he is for all of Berkshire Hathaway's 13F holdings. Other institutional investment managers (i.e. other entities, all of which are companies rather than natural persons) are listed in connection with most of those holdings, but they are listed in addition to Mr. Buffett not in place of him.
    edited February 2017 radarthekatbestkeptsecret
  • Reply 9 of 22
    This is a solid vote of confidence.  The Buffett organization also voted no confidence in retailer Walmart.  Amazon and Apple look good for the foreseeable future.  
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 22
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    I added shares during the Sept and Dec ending quarters too, but nearly quadrupling an already big stake... now that's a vote of confidence!  Maybe Sog's $150 is right around the corner.  
    watto_cobradedgecko
  • Reply 11 of 22
    While $7.7 billion is huge amount of money to us common people, it is not a big deal to Berkshire Hathaway.  Last year Warren Buffett spent $37 billion buying an aerospace parts company probably no one in this forum has ever heard of.  

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-14/berkshire-took-stake-in-seed-company-monsanto-in-fourth-quarter

    While I am happy that the Buffett organization expresses strong confidence in Apple, it is not as if Buffett himself were betting the farm on Apple. Berkshire Hathaway market cap is $410 billion.  Buffett is several magnitude bigger than Carl Icahn in terms of investment capital. 
    dedgecko
  • Reply 12 of 22
    That could be one of the reasons why the stock has gone up.  A solid quarterly performance and the buy in from BH signaling good health and longevity for the stock.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 22
    Where are the folks who dismissed Buffet's previous investment initiative as not being "his", and therefore somehow illegitimate?

    C'mon out of the woodwork, guys, you (and we) know who you are.  Entertain us again.  Please.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 22
    Where are the folks who dismissed Buffet's previous investment initiative as not being "his", and therefore somehow illegitimate?

    C'mon out of the woodwork, guys, you (and we) know who you are.  Entertain us again.  Please.
    Exhibit A:
    nathant99 said:
    This article is misleading (like many others around the web):  

    Warrant Buffett didn't personally buy Apple shares.  One of his investment lieutenants did.

    https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/ted-weschler-explains-berkshire-hathaways-investment-in-apple-to-german-magazine/







    watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 22
    idrey said:
    nathant99 said:
    This article is misleading (like many others around the web):  

    Warrant Buffett didn't personally buy Apple shares.  One of his investment lieutenants did.

    https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/ted-weschler-explains-berkshire-hathaways-investment-in-apple-to-german-magazine/





    That is true. But I think that without his consent the purchased  wouldn't have happened and regardless warrant Buffett will get all of the credit
    I can't find the source right now but Warren Buffett doesn't approve or provide input in his lieutenants' investments.  Each of them has $9 billion to invest on their own.
  • Reply 16 of 22

    Where are the folks who dismissed Buffet's previous investment initiative as not being "his", and therefore somehow illegitimate?

    C'mon out of the woodwork, guys, you (and we) know who you are.  Entertain us again.  Please.
    Exhibit A:
    nathant99 said:
    This article is misleading (like many others around the web):  

    Warrant Buffett didn't personally buy Apple shares.  One of his investment lieutenants did.

    https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/ted-weschler-explains-berkshire-hathaways-investment-in-apple-to-german-magazine/







    Facts are facts.  I'm not a hater.  In fact, I'm a WB fan and has been following his investing style for more than a decade.
  • Reply 17 of 22

    carnegie said:
    nathant99 said:
    This article is misleading (like many others around the web):  

    Warrant Buffett didn't personally buy Apple shares.  One of his investment lieutenants did.

    https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/ted-weschler-explains-berkshire-hathaways-investment-in-apple-to-german-magazine/





    We can't really be sure how much input Mr. Buffett had on various equity investments. Someone else may well have been the primary advocate for particular investments. Those investments may have been their idea and based on their research and expectations.

    But I suspect that Mr. Buffett, at the least, has signed off on any major equity investments. He - as Warren Buffett, not as Berkshire Hathaway - is listed on the (SEC Form) 13Fs as one of the institutional investment managers in connection with all of Berkshire Hathaway's Apple holdings just as he is for all of Berkshire Hathaway's 13F holdings. Other institutional investment managers (i.e. other entities, all of which are companies rather than natural persons) are listed in connection with most of those holdings, but they are listed in addition to Mr. Buffett not in place of him.
    If you google around a bit, the way Warren Buffett structures his lieutenants' investments is that each of the 2 has 9 billions to invest on their own, without needing WB's consent or input.  Their investment picks are listed under his name by design so we can't really tell who actually made the investments.   As pointed out by a recent article, his lieutenants' investments sometimes influence WF's investments but they are rare (Precision Cast Parts)
  • Reply 18 of 22
    davidwdavidw Posts: 2,036member

     

    nathant99 said:

    carnegie said:
    nathant99 said:
    This article is misleading (like many others around the web):  

    Warrant Buffett didn't personally buy Apple shares.  One of his investment lieutenants did.

    https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/ted-weschler-explains-berkshire-hathaways-investment-in-apple-to-german-magazine/





    We can't really be sure how much input Mr. Buffett had on various equity investments. Someone else may well have been the primary advocate for particular investments. Those investments may have been their idea and based on their research and expectations.

    But I suspect that Mr. Buffett, at the least, has signed off on any major equity investments. He - as Warren Buffett, not as Berkshire Hathaway - is listed on the (SEC Form) 13Fs as one of the institutional investment managers in connection with all of Berkshire Hathaway's Apple holdings just as he is for all of Berkshire Hathaway's 13F holdings. Other institutional investment managers (i.e. other entities, all of which are companies rather than natural persons) are listed in connection with most of those holdings, but they are listed in addition to Mr. Buffett not in place of him.
    If you google around a bit, the way Warren Buffett structures his lieutenants' investments is that each of the 2 has 9 billions to invest on their own, without needing WB's consent or input.  Their investment picks are listed under his name by design so we can't really tell who actually made the investments.   As pointed out by a recent article, his lieutenants' investments sometimes influence WF's investments but they are rare (Precision Cast Parts)

    Most of us already know that WB wasn't the one that initiated the original purchase of AAPL in the beginning of 2016. The first purchases were done by  one of his investment manager and that is common knowledge. But do you, or anybody else, know for sure that WB wasn't personally involved in the quadrupling of Berkshire Hathaway shares of AAPL in the fourth quarter (of 2016)? 

    The initial purchase was about 17% of the investment manager $9B allowance. Which don't seem out of place. If he made no other investment by the 4th quarter, the quadrupling of his AAPL shares would be mean he invested more the 50% of his remaining allowance in one stock. I would think that WB might have some sort of say if one of his investment manager wants  to invest more than 60%% of his $9B allowance in just one stock. Or it was WB himself, that increased BH shares of AAPL in the 4th quarter.  
  • Reply 19 of 22
    carnegiecarnegie Posts: 1,077member
    nathant99 said:

    carnegie said:
    nathant99 said:
    This article is misleading (like many others around the web):  

    Warrant Buffett didn't personally buy Apple shares.  One of his investment lieutenants did.

    https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/ted-weschler-explains-berkshire-hathaways-investment-in-apple-to-german-magazine/





    We can't really be sure how much input Mr. Buffett had on various equity investments. Someone else may well have been the primary advocate for particular investments. Those investments may have been their idea and based on their research and expectations.

    But I suspect that Mr. Buffett, at the least, has signed off on any major equity investments. He - as Warren Buffett, not as Berkshire Hathaway - is listed on the (SEC Form) 13Fs as one of the institutional investment managers in connection with all of Berkshire Hathaway's Apple holdings just as he is for all of Berkshire Hathaway's 13F holdings. Other institutional investment managers (i.e. other entities, all of which are companies rather than natural persons) are listed in connection with most of those holdings, but they are listed in addition to Mr. Buffett not in place of him.
    If you google around a bit, the way Warren Buffett structures his lieutenants' investments is that each of the 2 has 9 billions to invest on their own, without needing WB's consent or input.  Their investment picks are listed under his name by design so we can't really tell who actually made the investments.   As pointed out by a recent article, his lieutenants' investments sometimes influence WF's investments but they are rare (Precision Cast Parts)
    I'm somewhat familiar with how Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett operate.

    As I previously acknowledged, we don't know for sure how much input Mr. Buffett had on particular investments. But he is listed as one of the institutional investment managers with regard to Berkshire's equity investments because the law requires him to be if he exercises investment discretion over respective investment accounts (unless it were only his own money being invested). To what extent he uses that discretion - e.g., decides to buy or sell certain shares or rejects certain transactions - with regard to certain investments we don't necessarily know.

    However, we do know that with regard to one block of AAPL shares worth almost $100 million now he is the only institutional investment manager listed. That means that no other natural person exercised investment discretion with regard to that investment, unless it was their own money that was invested. 
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