CEO Warren Buffett and his investment lieutenants didn’t buy as much stock in the second quarter as they did in the first quarter.
Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Fortune/Time Inc
Berkshire Hathaway’s
filing of equity holdings should show purchases of
Apple,
Chevron,
Activision Blizzard,
HP,
and
Occidental Petroleum
in the second quarter, based on earlier disclosures.
Berkshire Hathaway’s (ticker: BRK.A, BRK.B) quarterly 13F filing, due late Monday, will detail the company’s equity holdings as of June 30. CEO Warren Buffett and his two investment lieutenants, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, weren’t nearly as active in the second quarter as they were in the first three months of the year.
Based on financial data in its recently filed 10-Q for the second quarter, Berkshire was a buyer of about $6 billion of stocks, down from $51 billion in the first quarter. It was a net buyer (purchases less sales) of $4 billion in the second quarter, down from $41 billion in the first three months of the year.
Berkshire was a large buyer of Chevron (CVX) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY) in the first quarter and sold most of what had been an $8 billion stake in
Verizon Communications
(VZ).
The recent 10-Q indicated that Berkshire bought about four million shares of Apple (AAPL) in the second quarter, bringing its holding to 915 million shares. The Apple stake is worth $157 billion now, by far the largest holding in Berkshire’s equity portfolio, totaling $327 billion on June 30.
Berkshire also was a buyer of nearly five million shares of Chevron in the second quarter, according to Barron’s estimates based on the 10-Q, lifting its stake in the energy company to about 163.6 million shares now worth $25 billion.
Berkshire bought about 22 million shares of Occidental Petroleum for $1.2 billion in the second quarter based on filings. And Berkshire likely bought about 10 million shares of videogame maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI) in the second quarter, bringing its stake to about 74 million shares.
Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual meeting on April 30 that the company held about 9.5% of Activision as an arbitrage play. Activision, now around $80, continues to trade well below the $95-a-share price that
Microsoft
(MSFT) agreed to pay for the company earlier this year. Buffett viewed the spread, a reflection of antitrust concerns, as attractive.
Buffett said he didn’t know what regulators will do. “One thing we do know is Microsoft has the money. So that takes that one risk out of it,” he said. Microsoft is paying about $68 billion.
Berkshire disclosed earlier that it bought 11 million shares of HP (HPQ), the printer and PC maker, in early April for about $400 million. Berkshire holds a roughly 11% stake in HP now worth about $4 billion.
There will likely be other equity purchases—and sales—disclosed in the filing.
Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com
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