Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway exits General Motors, J&J, P&G; cuts stake in Amazon, HP
Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has sold its holdings in General Motors, Activision Blizzard, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, reducing the number of stocks in its portfolio in the third quarter. The conglomerate has also cut its stake in companies including Amazon.com and HP Inc, boosted its cash pile to a record $157.2 billion, a report said.
As of September 30, Berkshire reported no stake in GM, J&J and P&G, after reporting respective stakes of $848 million, $54 million, and $48 million in June, as per regulatory filings.
Berkshire has also exited video game maker Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft bought last month.
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During the quarter, Berkshire also sold its $621 million stake in specialty materials company Celanese, and its small holdings of Mondelez International and United Parcel Service. It also trimmed its stake in Amazon by 5%, Reuters reported.
Berkshire Hathaway had one new position, an $8 million-worth stake in Atlanta Braves Holdings, the report added.
The total equity portfolio of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway was $318.6 billion as of September 30, the regulatory filing showed.
Berkshire sold $7 billion of stocks, including some of its big investment in Chevron, and bought just $1.7 billion in the third quarter.
In 2023 so far, Berkshire has sold $23.6 billion more stocks than it has bought. The net sales contributed to Berkshire’s record cash hoard, which is about the same size as its $156.8 billion Apple stake, Reuters reported.
Berkshire did not make any changes in its biggest investments in Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola and American Express.
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Additionally, Berkshire also reduced its holdings in Aon and Globe Life along with cutting two-thirds of its stake in Markel Group.
Meanwhile, Berkshire has maintained confidentiality over which investments are of Warren Buffett or which are from his portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
Berkshire said it has asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission for confidential treatment and decided not to disclose one or more of its holdings, the report added.
