On Wednesday, February 14th, Eastern Time, Berkshire Hathaway, led by the stock god Warren Buffett, submitted its latest Form 13F to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Overall, according to data platform WhaleWisdom, as of the end of December last year, Berkshire's total holdings in the US stock market were approximately $347 billion, an increase of approximately $34 billion from $313 billion in the previous quarter. The top ten holding targets account for 92.92%, while Apple accounts for 50.19%.
In addition, Buffett increased his holdings in all US stocks by 3 stocks and decreased his holdings by 3 stocks in the fourth quarter of last year. He also cleared his holdings of 4 stocks, but did not acquire any new stocks.
It should be noted that Table 13-F only requires funds to disclose their long positions in US stocks, so it does not fully reflect the overall operation of the fund.
According to the latest data, apart from Apple and Chevron, the top ten heavily held stocks have not changed much: Berkshire Hathaway reduced its holdings of 10 million shares in Apple in Q4 and increased its holdings of 16 million shares in Chevron. In the previous quarters, Buffett conducted a series of holdings reductions on this energy giant.
The top ten heavily held stocks in Q4 are Apple, Bank of America, American Express, Coca Cola, Chevron, Western Oil, Kraft Heinz, Moody's, Davita Health, and Citigroup.
In addition, while reducing its holdings in Apple, Berkshire Hathaway has reduced its holdings in established media platforms Paramount Global by 32% and HP by approximately 77%, respectively. The latter fell out of the "Top 10" due to a significant reduction of approximately 80 million shares. These actions have led investors to continue speculating about a significant new investment that Buffett may make.
It is reported that Berkshire has obtained permission from the SEC for the second consecutive quarter to temporarily keep one or more of its holdings confidential. When it makes large-scale investments, it occasionally demands such treatment, including billions of dollars in shares in Chevron, ExxonMobil, IBM, and Verizon Communications.
This is because investors often try to leverage Berkshire's approach, which reflects Buffett's reputation as one of the world's greatest investors. Berkshire does not want investors to buy its stocks in large quantities before the acquisition is completed.
In its third quarter report released in November last year, Berkshire hinted that its secret investments may involve a bank, financial company, or insurance company, as the company recently spent $1.2 billion to purchase stocks in these industries. However, it has not yet revealed the whereabouts of the money.
In terms of final increase in holdings, Berkshire Hathaway also increased its holdings of 30.6 million shares of SiriusXM, a US satellite broadcasting company, by more than 316%.