As one of the most revered investors of our time, Buffett’s strategic decisions have reshaped markets and captivated the financial world.
Known for his long-term philosophy, Buffett emphasizes selectivity and conviction, often holding onto favored investments for decades, preferring to seek out long-term value over quick gains.
The Origins of Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway is the main investment vehicle for Warren Buffet. Originally a textile milling company, Buffett began accumulating Berkshire Hathaway shares in 1962 before taking full ownership of the company in 1964.
He then diversified into insurance, eventually divesting from textile by 1985. The company’s subsidiaries include; BNSF Railways, GEICO, Cypress Insurance, General Re, Berkshire Hathaway Re, National Fire & Marine Insurance Co., and National Indemnity Co.
The billionaire owns about 32% of the company with other major shareholders being institutional investors; Vanguard Group (10.5%), Blackrock (5.5%), and SSgA (5.2%).
Investment Strategies
At the core of Buffett’s investment strategy are patience, compounded growth, and an unwavering belief in the fundamentals of the businesses he invests in.
His approach in steering the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio has been rooted in time-test principles, holding stocks for decades while demonstrating flexibility and adaptation, as was the case in the post-COVID-19 period.
From a robust embrace of the tech sector, acknowledging the roles of Apple and Amazon, to cautiously reallocating resources from previously untouchable staples, Buffett balances tradition and innovation.
Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio adjustments illustrate an intricate navigation of risk and opportunity, aligning with long-term growth and emphasizing Buffett’s philosophy that investing isn’t just about numbers, but understanding the business behind the stock.
Here are the major companies’ stocks that make up the Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio as per the company’s end-of-June SEC filings:
Apple (AAPL) – $84.3 Billion
Even though Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. halved its investment in Apple Inc. in the first half of 2024, Apple still makes up more than 30% of Berkshire’s equity value.
Warren Buffett started investing in Apple in early 2016, slowly building ownership to about a billion shares in 2018 which Berkshire held through to 2023 before selling much of it in 2024.
During that period, Apple shares grew by about 700% from about $23 to $190 earning Berkshire hundreds of billions in the process.
After June 2024, Berkshire held 400 million Apple stock worth about $84.3 billion. Buffett has reiterated his belief in Apple as one of the stocks Berkshire will keep holding, acknowledging the company’s entrenched customer loyalty that guarantees continued dominance of its main offering, the iPhone.
Bank of America (BAC) – $37.3 Billion
Warren Buffett still has a soft spot for Bank of America, which represents 13.5% of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio, despite his growing criticism of the banking industry as a whole.
Speaking to CNBC in 2023, the investor called out the banking industry and accused bank bosses of taking “dumb” risks while using deceptive accounting to misrepresent their earnings.
For instance, Buffett pointed out that some banks were valuing their assets based on original costs rather than current market prices, leading to inflated profit reports that could mislead investors and analysts.
He highlighted a significant error in how banks matched their assets with liabilities, specifically noting the risk of using customer deposits—withdrawable at any time—to invest in long-term securities. This mismatch was exemplified by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which faced a wave of withdrawals in March.
Following these concerns, the past three years have seen Berkshire Hathaway divest its banking holdings from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, M&T Bank, and PNC Financial according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
He has however emphasized his belief in the Bank of America brand, reiterating that he scored a great deal with its stock. Plus, he’s got tons of faith in CEO Brian Moynihan and the direction he’s taking the company. Berkshire Hathaway first acquired BAC stock in Q3 of 2017 and remains the bank’s largest institutional shareholder.
American Express (AXP) – $35.1 Billion
Buffett’s love for credit-card companies is exhibited in Berkshire’s $35.1 billion holding in American Express (AXP), along with $2.2 billion in Visa (V) and $1.8 billion in Mastercard (MA).
Buffett’s interest in AmEx began in the 1960s when he acquired 5% of the company for roughly $13 million, in the aftermath of the 1963 Salad Oil Scandal that halved its share prices from $60 to $33.
Thanks to the credit card craze of the ’70s and ’80s, AmEx became a big player in the industry. By the late ’90s, around two-thirds of American homes had a credit card. That’s when Buffett decided to go big and dropped $300 million into the company in 1991.
In 1995, Buffet invested a further $1.3 billion into Amex bringing Berkshire’s total holding to 10%. Fast forward 30 years, and this investment has ballooned to a whopping $35 billion, all without buying more shares.
Similarly, Berkshire’s ownership in AmEx has climbed from 10% to 21%, largely due to the company’s stock buybacks that have boosted investor value.
So confident is Buffett about Amex that even when its stock prices dropped to a low of $73 during the Covid-19 lockdowns, he retained his stake as he sold off Berkshire stakes in airlines and banks. Amex has since shown an impressive recovery, trading at $251 in August 2024.
Coca-Cola (KO) – $25.5 Billion
Coca-Cola has been another of Berkshire Hathaway’s steadfast investments since it splashed $1 billion to acquire 6.2% of the company back in 1988. Over the next six years, up until 1994, Buffet put in another $300 million on Coca-Cola and has held on to the stock ever since.
Today, Berkshire owns 400 million shares of Coca-Cola accounting for 9.3% of the company’s outstanding stock. The company has proved to be a great investment for Warren Buffet with dividends received by Berkshire Hathaway growing steadily over the years from $75 million in 1994 to an average of $700 million in recent years.
According to Buffett, considered the greatest investor of all time, the Coca-Cola stock, alongside Apple and American Express shall remain a part of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio for a long time to come.
“Unless something really extraordinary happens, we will own Apple, and American Express, and Coca-Cola when Greg takes over this place,”
Buffett said during a Q&A session at the annual Berkshire shareholder conference in May 2024, referring to Greg Abel, his handpicked successor.
Other major investments
Berkshire Hathaway has maintained significant shareholdings Chevron (CVX), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Kraft Heinz (KHC), and Moody’s (MCO). These four, together with the four companies highlighted above, make up 86% of Berkshire Hathaway’s entire portfolio.
The table below shows Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio after June 2024:
| No | Company | Shares held | Holding value | %tage of Berkshire Portfolio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple (AAPL) | 400,000,000 | $ 84,248,000,000 | 30.52% |
| 2 | Bank of America (BAC) | 942,429,882 | $ 37,225,980,339 | 13.48% |
| 3 | American Express (AXP) | 151,610,700 | $ 35,105,457,585 | 12.72% |
| 4 | Coca-Cola (KO) | 400,000,000 | $ 25,460,000,000 | 9.22% |
| 5 | Chevron (CVX) | 118,610,534 | $ 18,553,059,728 | 6.72% |
| 6 | Occidental Petroleum (OXY) | 255,281,524 | $ 16,090,394,458 | 5.83% |
| 7 | Kraft Heinz (KHC) | 325,634,818 | $ 10,491,953,836 | 3.80% |
| 8 | Moody’s (MCO) | 24,669,778 | $ 10,384,249,654 | 3.76% |
| 9 | Chubb (CB) | 27,033,784 | $ 4,944,732,134 | 2.50% |
| 10 | DaVita (DVA) | 36,095,570 | $ 4,982,993,438 | 1.79% |
| 11 | Citigroup (C) | 55,244,797 | $ 3,505,834,818 | 1.27% |
| 12 | Kroger (KR) | 50,000,000 | $ 2,496,500,001 | 0.90% |
| 13 | Verisign (VRSN) | 12,815,613 | $ 2,278,615,992 | 0.83% |
| 14 | Visa (V) | 8,297,460 | $ 2,177,834,326 | 0.79% |
| 15 | Amazon.com (AMZN) | 10,000,000 | $ 1,932,500,000 | 0.70% |
| 16 | Mastercard (MA) | 3,986,648 | $ 1,758,749,632 | 0.64% |
| 17 | Liberty Sirius XM Group Class C (LSXMK) | 70,002,897 | $ 1,551,264,198 | 0.56% |
| 18 | Nu Holdings (NU) | 107,118,784 | $ 1,380,761,126 | 0.50% |
| 19 | Capital One Financial (COF) | 9,819,052 | $ 1,359,447,750 | 0.49% |
| 20 | Aon (AON) | 4,100,000 | $ 1,203,678,000 | 0.44% |
| 21 | Ally Financial (ALLY) | 29,000,000 | $ 1,150,430,000 | 0.42% |
| 22 | Charter Communications (CHTR) | 3,828,941 | $ 1,144,700,201 | 0.41% |
| 23 | T-Mobile US (TMUS) | 4,672,000 | $ 823,112,960 | 0.30% |
| 24 | Liberty Sirius XM Group Class A (LSXMA) | 35,182,219 | $ 779,286,152 | 0.28% |
| 25 | Formula One Group (FWONK) | 7,722,451 | $ 554,780,880 | 0.20% |
| 26 | Louisiana Pacific (LPX) | 5,964,793 | $ 491,081,408 | 0.18% |
| 27 | Liberty Media (LLYVK) | 10,917,661 | $ 417,818,885 | 0.15% |
| 28 | Floor & Decor (FND) | 3,977,870 | $ 395,440,057 | 0.14% |
| 29 | Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI) | 132,878,213 | $ 376,045,343 | 0.14% |
| 30 | Ulta Beauty | 690,106 | $ 266,291,202 | 0.10% |
| 31 | Liberty Media (LLYVA) | 4,986,588 | $ 187,046,916 | 0.07% |
| 32 | Heico (HEI) | 1,044,242 | $ 185,373,840 | 0.07% |
| 33 | NVR (NVR) | 11,112 | $ 84,324,079 | 0.03% |
| 34 | Diageo (DEO) | 227,750 | $ 28,714,720 | 0.01% |
| 35 | Liberty Latin America Class A (LILA) | 2,630,792 | $ 25,281,911 | 0.01% |
| 36 | Jefferies (JEF) | 433,558 | $ 21,573,846 | 0.01% |
| 37 | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) | 43,000 | $ 21,505,590 | 0.01% |
| 38 | SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY) | 39,400 | $ 21,442,268 | 0.01% |
| 39 | Lennar (LEN) | 152,572 | $ 21,273,114 | 0.01% |
| 40 | Liberty Latin Americ Class C (LILAK) | 1,284,020 | $ 12,352,272 | <0.01% |
| 41 | Atlanta Braves Holdings (BATRK) | 223,645 | $ 8,820,558 | <0.01% |
