Warren Buffett's Berkshire Raises Stakes in Three Companies, Yet Its 2024 Investment Moves Remain Reduced
Go Smart Money
January 6, 2025
GoGPT Summarizes Articles
Recently, Berkshire $BRK.A $BRK.B has frequently increased the stakes in three companies led by VeriSign $VRSN.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire, bought about 20,000 VeriSign's common stock again between Dec. 31, 2024, and Jan. 3, 2025, totaling about $4.1 million, according to a report filed with regulators. Previously in December, Berkshire added approximately 234,000 shares and 143,424 shares of VeriSign for roughly $45 million and $28.55 million, respectively.
VeriSign is a U.S.-based Internet infrastructure services company that serves as an industrial leader and key player. However, its stock has been relatively muted due to regulatory pressure and uncertainty over future growth.
Some market viewpoints explained that Berkshire's interest in VeriSign might stem from its high ranking among S&P 500 companies on various profitability metrics. MarketWatch data show that in the third quarter of 2024, VeriSign ranked 11th in gross margin, 6th in operating margin, and 7th in net profit among S&P 500 constituent companies.
Apart from VeriSign, Berkshire also purchased shares of Occidental Petroleum $OXY and Sirius XM $SIRI in December. In particular, Berkshire added nearly 8.9 million shares of Occidental Petroleum for $409 million and purchased about 5 million shares of Sirius XM for about $100 million.
Occidental Petroleum's stock lost over 17% in 2024. Berkshire bought its shares despite its poor performance and the pressure it was under from low oil prices. So, Berkshire has an unrealized loss of nearly $2.2 billion on its common stock position in Occidental Petroleum, according to Bloomberg data.
However, a few additions cannot change Berkshire's investment direction for stock reductions in 2024. The report reflected that the value of Berkshire's US stock position fell to $266.4 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, Berkshire's cash reserves increased to a record-setting $325.2 billion.
During the third quarter, Berkshire sold approximately $36.1 billion in net stock, its eighth consecutive quarter of net stock sales. Specifically, Berkshire reduced its shares in Apple $AAPL, Bank of America $BAC/PS , Sirius XM, Chartered Communications Inc $CHTR, and Ulta Beauty Inc $ULTA.
As of the end of the third quarter of 2024, Berkshire's top five heavyweight stocks included Apple, American Express, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and Chevron. Among them, Apple still ranked first, with a position with a market capitalization of about $69.9 billion, representing 26.24% of the portfolio. American Express $AXP ranked second, with a position with a market capitalization of about $41.1 billion, representing 15.44% of the portfolio. Bank of America, Coca-Cola $KO, and Chevron Corp $CVX account for over 6% of the portfolio. By the quarter-end, Berkshire holds 40 stocks with a market capitalization of $266.379 billion.
#2024 Investment Recap: Share Your Best Insights!#$Berkshire Hathaway Inc.(BRK.A)#$BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY Class B(BRK.B)#$VeriSign Inc(VRSN)#$Occidental Petroleum Corporation(OXY)#$Sirius XM Holdings Inc(SIRI)#$Apple Inc.(AAPL)#$Bank of America Corporation Depositary shares each representing 1/1 000th interest in a share of 4.750% Non-Cumulative Preferred Stock Series SS(BAC/PS)#$Charter Comm Inc Del CL A New(CHTR)#$Ulta Beauty Inc. Common Stock(ULTA)#$Coca-Cola Company(KO)#$Chevron Corporation(CVX)#$American Express Company(AXP)#warrenbuffett