Warren Buffett's stock picks aren't what they used to be. Indeed, the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) equity portfolio has changed dramatically over the past few years. Although old-guard favorites such as American Express (AXP) and Coca-Cola (KO) still form the core of the portfolio, Buffett & Co. have taken a shine to names such as Apple (AAPL) and Amazon.com (AMZN), and even to lesser-known firms such as Nu Holdings (NU).
One thing that hasn't changed, however, is Buffett's preference for maintaining a highly concentrated portfolio. Excluding the holding company's Japanese brokerage stocks, Apple accounts for more than 30% of Berkshire's equity portfolio. Berkshire's top five U.S. equity holdings comprise about three-quarters of its value, while the top 10 account for more than 90%.
As Buffett likes to say, diversification is for people who don't know what they're doing.
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But whether we're talking about Berkshire's biggest bets or the scores of stocks it maintains at the margins, Buffett's focus shifted after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buffett owned airline stocks at the start of 2020; now he holds none. Banks were aces among Buffett stocks to begin 2020; Berkshire spent the past few years kicking most of them to the curb. And it seems like only yesterday that Buffett was an enthusiastic buyer of select pharmaceutical names. Today, most of those positions have been closed out too.
If you want to know which stocks Warren Buffett is buying and selling, look no further than the Berkshire Hathaway equity portfolio. (And as always, remember: A number of these stocks were actually picked by co-portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.)
Price, share totals and other data as of June 30, 2024. Sources: Berkshire Hathaway’s SEC Form 13F filed August 14, 2024, for the reporting period ended June 30, 2024; and WhaleWisdom.
The Berkshire Hathaway portfolio
| Company | Shares held | Holding value | Percent of portfolio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple (AAPL) | 400,000,000 | $84,248,000,000 | 30.52% |
| Bank of America (BAC) | 942,429,882 | $37,225,980,339 | 13.48% |
| American Express (AXP) | 151,610,700 | $35,105,457,585 | 12.72% |
| Coca-Cola (KO) | 400,000,000 | $25,460,000,000 | 9.22% |
| Chevron (CVX) | 118,610,534 | $18,553,059,728 | 6.72% |
| Occidental Petroleum (OXY) | 255,281,524 | $16,090,394,458 | 5.83% |
| Kraft Heinz (KHC) | 325,634,818 | $10,491,953,836 | 3.80% |
| Moody's (MCO) | 24,669,778 | $10,384,249,654 | 3.76% |
| Chubb (CB) | 27,033,784 | $4,944,732,134.3 | 2.50% |
| DaVita (DVA) | 36,095,570 | $4,982,993,438 | 1.79% |
| Citigroup (C) | 55,244,797 | $3,505,834,818 | 1.27% |
| Kroger (KR) | 50,000,000 | 2,496,500,001 | 0.90% |
| Verisign (VRSN) | 12,815,613 | $2,278,615,992 | 0.83% |
| Visa (V) | 8,297,460 | $2,177,834,326 | 0.79% |
| Amazon.com (AMZN) | 10,000,000 | $1,932,500,000 | 0.70% |
| Mastercard (MA) | 3,986,648 | $1,758,749,632 | 0.64% |
| Liberty Sirius XM Group Class C (LSXMK) | 70,002,897 | $1,551,264,198 | 0.56% |
| Nu Holdings (NU) | 107,118,784 | $1,380,761,126 | 0.50% |
| Capital One Financial (COF) | 9,819,052 | $1,359,447,750 | 0.49% |
| Aon (AON) | 4,100,000 | $1,203,678,000 | 0.44% |
| Ally Financial (ALLY) | 29,000,000 | $1,150,430,000 | 0.42% |
| Charter Communications (CHTR) | 3,828,941 | $1,144,700,201 | 0.41% |
| T-Mobile US (TMUS) | 4,672,000 | $823,112,960 | 0.30% |
| Liberty Sirius XM Group Class A (LSXMA) | 35,182,219 | $779,286,152 | 0.28% |
| Formula One Group (FWONK) | 7,722,451 | $554,780,880 | 0.20% |
| Louisiana Pacific (LPX) | 5,964,793 | $491,081,408 | 0.18% |
| Liberty Media (LLYVK) | 10,917,661 | $417,818,885 | 0.15% |
| Floor & Decor (FND) | 3,977,870 | $395,440,057 | 0.14% |
| Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI) | 132,878,213 | $376,045,343 | 0.14% |
| Ulta Beauty | 690,106 | $266,291,202 | 0.10% |
| Liberty Media (LLYVA) | 4,986,588 | $187,046,916 | 0.07% |
| Heico (HEI) | 1,044,242 | $185,373,840 | 0.07% |
| NVR (NVR) | 11,112 | $84,324,079 | 0.03% |
| Diageo (DEO) | 227,750 | $28,714,720 | 0.01% |
| Liberty Latin America Class A (LILA) | 2,630,792 | $25,281,911 | 0.01% |
| Jefferies (JEF) | 433,558 | $21,573,846 | 0.01% |
| Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) | 43,000 | $21,505,590 | 0.01% |
| SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY) | 39,400 | $21,442,268 | 0.01% |
| Lennar (LEN) | 152,572 | $21,273,114 | 0.01% |
| Liberty Latin Americ Class C (LILAK) | 1,284,020 | $12,352,272 | less than 0.01% |
| Atlanta Braves Holdings (BATRK) | 223,645 | $8,820,558 | less than 0.01% |
Stocks Warren Buffett Is Buying
Berkshire picked up two new stocks in Q2: Ulta Beauty (ULTA) and Heico (HEI). Berkshire bought 690,000 shares of Ulta Beauty worth $266 million at the end of the Q2. With a weight of 0.1% in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio, or its 30th largest position, the cosmetics retail chain won't be moving the needle much on Berkshire's returns.
Meanwhile, with a weight of just 0.07%, Heico is even less material. Berkshire accumulated a little more than 1 million shares in the supplier to the aerospace industry. The stake was worth $185 million as of the end of Q2.
The comparatively small size of the purchases could mean they were initiated by Buffett's co-portfolio managers Ted Weschler or Todd Combs.
On the other hand, one of the largest additions Berkshire made in Q2 was probably the work of Buffett himself. As previously disclosed, BRK.B bought another 7 million shares in Occidental Petroleum (OXY). (Buffett has added to OXY on weakness in the past.) The holding company owned 255 million shares worth $16 billion at the end of the quarter. At 5.8% of its portfolio, OXY is Berkshire's sixth largest holding.
In another interesting move, Buffett also added to Chubb (CB), the insurance company Berkshire first picked up just a quarter ago. The holding company increased its stake by 4.3%, or more than 1 million shares. With roughly 27 million shares worth $6.9 billion at quarter's end, Chubb accounts for a hefty 2.5% of the portfolio, or Berkshire's ninth largest holding.
Elsewhere, Berkshire fiddled with some of its smallest positions, upping its bets on rather immaterial holdings such as Liberty Sirius XM Group, Series C (LSXMK) and Liberty Sirius XM Group, Series A (LSXMA). Note that the company cut its stakes in the tracking stocks last quarter. Berkshire also bought more Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI) – a position it reduced in Q1.
Stocks Warren Buffett Is Selling
Apple accounted for almost all of Berkshire's Q2 sales. Other reductions included Chevron, a Buy-rated Dow Jones stock, which Buffett first purchased four years ago. In Q2, Berkshire cut CVX by 3.6%, or 4.4 million shares. With 119 million shares worth $18.6 billion at the end of the quarter, the integrated oil major is Berkshire's fifth largest holding.
Other sales included a more than 20% reduction in Capital One Financial (COF). Berkshire sold 2.7 million shares in the financial services company in Q2, bringing its position down to 9.8 million shares worth $1.4 billion. With a 0.49% weight in the portfolio, COF is Berkshire's 19th largest bet.
Berkshire also continued to clean and prune a number of its mid-level equity holdings, paring its stakes in T-Mobile US (TMUS), Louisiana Pacific (LPX), Liberty Media (LLYVK), Liberty Media (LLYVA) and specialty retailer Floor & Decor (FND).
Buffett also closed out its stake in Paramount, dumping all 7.5 million shares. The company first bought PARA in early 2022. It didn't work out.
Lastly, Berkshire exited its position in Snowflake (SNOW), which is believed to have been the work of subaltern Todd Combs. Berkshire made a rare bet on an initial public offering (IPO) with Snowflake in the third quarter of 2020. SNOW has an all-time total return of negative 16%.
Berkshire's Top Five Holdings
As noted above, Warren Buffett has always maintained a highly concentrated portfolio. Indeed, he's said that "diversification makes very little sense for anyone who knows what they're doing." The stocks below accounted for about three-quarters of Berkshire's total U.S. equities portfolio value as of the end of Q1. If you want to know what's driving the bulk of the Buffett's returns, check out the names below.
Apple
Warren Buffett has called Apple "Berkshire's third business," so it should come as no surprise that the iPhone maker routinely takes the top spot among the holding company's positions.
True, Berkshire pared its stake in Apple in early 2024, but Buffett assured shareholders he adores AAPL as much as ever at the annual meeting. BRK.B's CEO took pains to explain that the iPhone maker is still, er, the Apple of his eye. (It would have been embarrassing not to, considering Apple CEO Tim Cook attended the event in person.)
For the record, the sales were for tax purposes. The greatest long-term investor of all time said that AAPL is "even better" than American Express or Coca-Cola, two "wonderful" businesses that Berkshire has owned since the early 1960s and late 1980s, respectively.
Bank of America
Bank of America is Berkshire Hathaway's second-largest holding behind only Apple. Buffett first acquired BAC stock in Q3 2017. Berkshire is the bank's largest institutional shareholder.
In an April 2023 media appearance, Buffett said that he unloaded many of the holding company's bank stocks because he didn't think they were near as solid investments as they once were. As for Bank of America, he said this about the bank and its CEO:
"I like [CEO] Brian Moynihan enormously. And I just don't wanna, I don't wanna sell it," the 92-year-old CEO told CNBC's Becky Quick. "But I did sell banks that we'd owned for 25 or 30 years. And if they asked me why I did it, I told them – I just think the system isn't set up quite right in terms of connecting punishment to culprits on something that's important."
American Express
Buffett likes credit-card companies. Berkshire owns substantial stakes in payments processors Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) but he really loves American Express.
Buffett took his first stake in AmEx in the 1960s, and it’s still paying off a half-century later. There's a lot to love about AmEx: Its management is strong, it's a dominant brand in the industry, and it generates copious amounts of free cash flow – the money left over after essential capital expenditures are made that can be used to finance dividends and stock buybacks.
The current yield on the dividend isn’t eye-catching, but it is safe and growing. And the stock is only slightly more volatile than the broader market. Those are attributes that will help long-term investors sleep better at night.
Coca-Cola
Buffett famously watched Coca-Cola for 52 years before investing in the stock.
He finally took the plunge in 1988. "We expect to hold these securities for a long time," Buffett wrote back then of his new stake in Coke in a letter to Berkshire shareholders. "In fact, when we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever."
As of the end of Q2 2024, Berkshire owned 9.3% of Coca-Cola’s outstanding shares. Analysts like the stock's prospects, too. Wall Street gives KO a consensus recommendation of Buy, with strong conviction.
Chevron
Thanks to high and stable prices for crude oil, the energy sector is now awash in cash. Chevron, the only energy name among all 30 Dow Jones stocks, is returning part of this cash windfall to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.
Make no mistake: there are few things Buffett likes more than dividends and buybacks.
It also helps that oil is a solid hedge against inflation. With inflation still running ahead of the Federal Reserve's 2% target, commodities should remain in favor. Berkshire's massive pile of cash, equivalents and short-term investments is much better put to use in an asset like Chevron under such conditions.
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