Denver Warren Buffett was surprisingly reticent during the pandemic, but now the 91-year-old star investor is actively involved in the stock market again. Citigroup shares are new to his $390 billion portfolio. Buffett’s Holding Berkshire Hathaway of Omaha, Nebraska, for example, bought a stake worth almost $3 billion at the end of the first quarter. This emerges from a mandatory notification to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Citigroup shares had lost a quarter of their value this year. However, they rose by more than two percent in after-hours trading on Monday.
Buffett has been investing in the financial industry on and off for years. His entry is still considered a seal of quality. In addition, Berkshire built a position in financial firm Ally Financial, which is worth around $400 million.
Buffett manages the portfolio with his two investment managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs. As a rule, Buffett keeps secret who is behind which investment decision – but there are exceptions. Basically, decisions over $10 billion definitely involve Buffett, and decisions under $1 billion were likely made by Weschler or Combs.
Focus on energy stocks
It was already known that Buffett had significantly increased his stake in the energy company Chevron. He has more than tripled the number of shares he holds, to a stake that is now $26 billion. The oil company is in fourth place in the list of its largest holdings. Buffett also increased his stake in another oil company, Occidental Petroleum. He had already announced both at his general meeting in early May. Since then, however, he’s bought more shares of Occidental Petroleum, albeit at a slower pace than in March, when “we bought everything we could,” according to Buffett.
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Last week, the investor added another 902,000 shares to his portfolio at an average price of $57.32. Berkshire thus holds 15.3 percent of the shares in the oil company with a value of a good 64 billion dollars. Year-to-date, Occidental’s shares are up 118 percent, closing 5.7 percent higher on Monday. There is speculation in the market that Berkshire could completely take over the oil company, but this has not been confirmed.
Also new are investments in the media company Paramount Global, the chemical company Celanese and the drug dealer McKesson. In the first quarter alone, Berkshire bought $51 billion worth of stock. The holding, on the other hand, parted with the shares in the pharmaceutical companies Abbvie and Bristol-Mysers Squibb and reduced its shares in the telecommunications group Verizon by 99 percent.
Stock up at Apple
Buffett also grew at Apple in the first quarter. He took advantage of Apple’s weakness and bought $600 million worth of shares. The stake in the iPhone maker is now $155.6 billion. It is by far the largest position in the portfolio. Buffett’s investment manager Weschler reportedly convinced him to join in 2016, Wall Street Journal reporter Tripp Mickle writes in his new book about Apple. Accordingly, Weschler told his boss about Berkshire board member Sandy Gottesman, who left his iPhone in a taxi and felt as a result “have lost a part of my soul”. Afterwards, Buffett noticed how many people have a close bond with their iPhone, including his grandchildren. That finally convinced him.
Berkshire stock has given back much of its gains since its March high and is up a good 2 percent since early January. The Class A paper is the most expensive US stock and closed at $464,250 on Monday. However, that still leaves Berkshire significantly better than the broader S&P 500, which Buffett likes to compare himself to. The index has lost a good 16 percent since the beginning of the year.
More: Caution, Buffett effect: That’s why it’s dangerous to copy the star investor’s share purchases