Even though the U.S. stock market began the second half of the year significantly overvalued, Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) kept increasing his holdings in Apple Inc. AAPL, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. BK and US Bancorp USB, three of his largest positions, over the past several quarters.
Buffett’s conglomerate increases holdings in stocks over the past 12 months
Figure 1 shows Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s BRK.ABRK.B asset allocation as of the first quarter, while Figure 2 shows the historical asset allocation trends over the past 10 years.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Over the past 12 months, Buffett’s conglomerate increased its stock holdings by 1%, with a 3% increase since second-quarter 2017.
Apple
Buffett invested in over 110 million shares of the Cupertino, California-based tech giant over the past year. The position represents 21.27% of Berkshire’s portfolio. Figure 3 illustrates Buffett’s holdings in Apple over the past few years.
Figure 3
The Berkshire CEO said in a May 8 CNBC interview that despite not owning any shares of Apple in 2011, Buffett still knew that Apple was a “phenomenal company” driven by innovation and other key initiatives promoted by founder and former CEO Steve Jobs.
Based on GuruFocus estimates, Buffett has gained approximately 30% on Apple since he first bought shares in March 2016.
High-conviction stocks include two regional U.S. banks
Buffett invested in approximately 29 million shares of Bank of New York Mellon and approximately 5.78 million shares of US Bancorp over the past four quarters, as Figures 4 and 5 illustrate. The Berkshire CEO has gained approximately 33% and 40% on the stocks based on GuruFocus estimates.
Figure 4
Figure 5
See also
Buffett devoted 40.9%, 22.1% and 20.4% of the conglomerate’s portfolio to the financial services, technology and consumer staples sectors, the top three sectors in terms of portfolio weight. Berkshire’s top 10 holdings as of March 31 are Apple, Wells Fargo and Co. WFC, Bank of America Corp. BAC, The Kraft Heinz Co. KHC, The Coca-Cola Co. KO, American Express Co. AXP, US Bancorp, Phillips 66 (PSX), Moody’s Corporation (MCO) and Bank of New York Mellon.
Disclosure: No positions.
