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Buffett Increased His Stake in Banks and Reduced His Share in Apple

Buffett Increased His Stake in Banks and Reduced His Share in Apple

Published by InvestorGreg Editorial Team

February 18th, 2019

Legendary Warren Buffett, the Head of Berkshire Hathaway Investment Holding, took advantage of the fall in bank shares to further increase his stake on the financial sector while reducing the giant stake in Apple.

Throughout the second half of last year, Berkshire bought up shares of banks and insurance companies, which made the Company a major shareholder in four of the five largest US banks. In the last three months of 2018, the Holding Company increased its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America.

Berkshire reduced its stake in Apple by 1% during the fall of the market. In that time, for the first time in 18 years, the downward trend prevailed during the New Year holidays, which led to a 30% reduction in the value of shares. Nevertheless, the shares of the well-known manufacturer of iPhones still occupy the largest part in Buffett’s portfolio, and they have grown by 8% this year.

At the appropriate time, Buffett was not too pleased with the investment in IBM, but he got a good catch from his recent acquisitions. At the end of the year, Berkshire had $4.2 million shares of RedHat, although it is not completely clear whether they were acquired before or after IBM, but as of October 29, the increase was 45%.

In addition, the Company increased its presence in credit institutions including PNC FinancialServicesGroup and U.S. Bancorp. Such a decision is possible to be due to the expectations of consolidation in the industry, as this month, it was announced about the future merger of SunTrustBanks and BB&T.

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The InvestorGreg Editorial Team is a group of financial writers and analysts who cover the worlds of finance and investment. Read more

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