Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway increases Apple position by 5 percent
Financial mogul Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway loaded up on shares of Apple in the second quarter of 2018, increasing the fund's position to nearly 252 million shares at the end of the three-month period.
Over the trailing quarter, Berkshire bought 12,388,244 Apple shares worth some $5.4 billion, bringing the fund's stake in the Cupertino tech giant up to 251,955,877 shares, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released Tuesday. Whether Buffett added to that number since the end of June is unknown.
News of the investment arrives two weeks after the "Oracle of Omaha" revealed buying 75 million Apple shares in the first quarter. Berkshire is Apple's third-largest shareholder behind investment management firms Vanguard and BlackRock, with a 5 percent stake in the company.
Initially loath to invest in tech stocks due in part to their inherent volatility, Buffett has become a convert, at least when it comes to Apple. Berkshire bought into the company in 2016 with a share purchase worth about $1 billion, a figure that was extended to 57.4 million shares at the end of 2016. That stake increased to 133 million shares a quarter later.
In February, Apple was Berkshire's largest holding.
"[Apple] was a company I liked, a business I liked, very much," Buffett said in an interview last week. "It was a company I liked, a business I liked, very much, and we could buy a lot of it I clearly like Apple and why buy 'em to hold, and we bought about 5 percent of the company, and I'd like to own 100 percent of it."
Apple last month reported its best June quarter ever with revenue of $53.3 billion on 41.3 million iPhone sales. Of note, the company's crown jewel iPhone line increased its average selling price to $724.12, up from the $605.62 in the year-ago period, thanks to demand for the premium-priced iPhone X.
On the back of its third fiscal quarter beat, Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at $1 trillion.
Over the trailing quarter, Berkshire bought 12,388,244 Apple shares worth some $5.4 billion, bringing the fund's stake in the Cupertino tech giant up to 251,955,877 shares, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released Tuesday. Whether Buffett added to that number since the end of June is unknown.
News of the investment arrives two weeks after the "Oracle of Omaha" revealed buying 75 million Apple shares in the first quarter. Berkshire is Apple's third-largest shareholder behind investment management firms Vanguard and BlackRock, with a 5 percent stake in the company.
Initially loath to invest in tech stocks due in part to their inherent volatility, Buffett has become a convert, at least when it comes to Apple. Berkshire bought into the company in 2016 with a share purchase worth about $1 billion, a figure that was extended to 57.4 million shares at the end of 2016. That stake increased to 133 million shares a quarter later.
In February, Apple was Berkshire's largest holding.
"[Apple] was a company I liked, a business I liked, very much," Buffett said in an interview last week. "It was a company I liked, a business I liked, very much, and we could buy a lot of it I clearly like Apple and why buy 'em to hold, and we bought about 5 percent of the company, and I'd like to own 100 percent of it."
Apple last month reported its best June quarter ever with revenue of $53.3 billion on 41.3 million iPhone sales. Of note, the company's crown jewel iPhone line increased its average selling price to $724.12, up from the $605.62 in the year-ago period, thanks to demand for the premium-priced iPhone X.
On the back of its third fiscal quarter beat, Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at $1 trillion.
Comments
Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in Apple by about 5%, going from owning about 240 million shares to owning about 252 million shares.
And...
Berkshire Hathaway now owns more than 5% of Apple.
The value of Berkshire's Apple stock also accounts for around 10% of its (i.e. Berkshire's) market cap.
I say that because, in the past, not all of its equity holdings (i.e. as it considers them) have been reported on the 13F for Berkshire Hathaway Inc itself. Most of its equity holdings are reported on that institutional manager report. But sometimes some of them are reported on the 13F for New England Asset Management Inc.
Based on the values reported in Berkshire's 10-Qs, I think around 3 million Apple shares (which Berkshire owns) are currently being reported on New England Asset Management's 13F. That would put Berkshire's Apple holdings at around 255 million shares. The amount reported by New England Asset Management (which is attributable to Berkshire Hathaway generally) doesn't seem to have changed in the second quarter though. So the change indicated on Berkshire's most recent 13F - i.e. 12,388,244 - seems to represent the total change for the second quarter. That said, the change indicated on Berkshire's first quarter 13F may have been a little less than the actual change in its Apple holdings. I believe that some of its increase in Apple shares showed up on New England Asset Management's 13F for that quarter.
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