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Investors and the media have long been interested in what Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK.A ) ( BRK.B ) puts in, maintains and takes out of its investment basket. Buffett, one of the world’s most successful stock investors, is a master at finding not only winners but also companies that can weather the storm.
Warren Buffett’s Top 10 Stocks by Value
As of the end of June 2023, these were the 10 largest stocks owned by Warren Buffett, ranked by value, according to the most recent quarterly 13F report (issued Aug. 14):
1. Apple (AAPL): 915.56 million shares worth $177.59 billion
2. Bank of America (BAC): 1.033 billion shares worth $26.63 billion
3. American Express (AXP): 151.6 million shares worth $26.41 billion
4. Coca-Cola ( KO ): 400 million shares worth $24.09 billion
5. Chevron (CVX): 123.12 million shares worth $19.37 billion
6. Occidental Petroleum (OXY): 224.13 million shares worth $13.18 billion
7. Kraft Heinz (KHC): 325.64 million shares worth $11.56 billion
8. Moody’s Corp (MCO): 24.67 million shares worth $8.58 billion
9. HP (HPQ): 120.95 million shares worth $3.71 billion
10. DaVita Inc (DVA): 36.1 million shares worth $3.63 billion
Berkshire Hathaway’s Top 25 Businesses: An In-Depth Review
1. Apple Inc (AAPL)
Headquartered in Cupertino, California, the technology giant manufactures and sells smartphones, tablets, computers and related accessories.
The world’s largest company by market capitalization is the most important holding company. Berkshire Hathaway , which represents nearly 51% of its portfolio.
As of June 2023, the holding company owned 915.56 million AAPL shares valued at $177.59 billion.
2. Bank of America Corp. (BAC)
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bank of America is the second largest bank in the United States by market capitalization.
It also ranks second among Berkshire Hathaway’s 25 largest holdings, accounting for 8.5% of the total portfolio .
BAC has a market cap of $208.46 billion (as of October 2023).
3. American Express Co. (AXP)
The world’s leading payment company issues charge cards, credit cards and traveler’s checks.
It has a long history of paying dividends, in keeping with Warren Buffett’s stock preference.
Annual dividends from Berkshire Hathaway ‘s investments in AXP rose from $41 million to $302 million.
Amex accounted for about 7.6% of Berkshire Hathaway ‘s holdings as of June and has a market cap of $104.26 billion as of October 2023.
4. Coca-Cola Co. (KO)
Coca-Cola is the manufacturer of over 200 soft drinks, including the iconic brands Coca-Cola , Fanta and Sprite .
Coca-Cola is the fourth-largest holding in Warren Buffett’s portfolio as its strong brand fuels dividend growth at Berkshire .
The cash dividend Berkshire received from Coke had increased from $75 million in 1994 to $704 million by 2022 .
As of June 2023, Berkshire had 400 million KO shares worth $24.09 billion.
5. Chevron Corp. (CVX)
Chevron is the second-largest energy company in the U.S. by revenue and market capitalization, behind Exxon Mobil (XOM) .
Although Berkshire Hathaway has reduced its holdings in Chevron since Q4 2022, the San Remo, California-based company remains the fifth-largest of Berkshire Hathaway ‘s holdings , accounting for 5.56% of the holding company’s portfolio.
6. Occidental Petroleum (OXY)
OXY recently took a top spot among Warren Buffett’s stocks.
The Houston-based oil and gas exploration company has assets in the Permian Basin, the Rocky Mountains, the Gulf of Mexico, the Middle East and Africa.
As of June, Berkshire owned 224.13 million OXY shares, representing 3.78% of its portfolio.
The company has a market capitalization of $57.66 billion (as of October 2023).
7. Kraft Heinz (KHC)
The maker of ubiquitous products like Heinz Ketchup , Lea Perrin’s Worcestershire Sauce and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America.
Berkshire Hathaway ‘s investment in the company was 3.3% of its portfolio.
As of October 2023, Kraft Heinz has a market cap of $38.45 billion.
8. Moody’s Corp (MCO)
The New York-based company is a global risk assessment firm with offices in over 40 countries.
It offers services such as credit ratings, research and analysis of debt and securities.
It has been part of Berkshire Hathaway ‘s portfolio since the fourth quarter of 2000 . In June, Moody’s accounted for 2.46% of Berkshire’s holdings.
The company has a market capitalization of $58.22 billion (as of October 2023).
10. HP (Hewlett-Packard) Inc (HPQ)
An American technology company based in Palo Alto, California, manufactures and sells printers and printing solutions for private and commercial users.
According to 13f.info , Berkshire first bought HP securities in the second quarter of 2022.
As of June, Buffett owned 120.95 million HP shares , worth 3.71 billion USD, or 1.1% of his total portfolio.
10. DaVita Inc. (TWO)
DaVita is a healthcare provider focused on kidney treatment services.
The company provides care for patients at every stage of kidney disease, including transplant support in hospitals, dialysis centers and home dialysis services.
As of June 2023, Buffett’s stake in DaVita was worth 3.63 billion USD, representing 1.04% of his total investment.
11. Verisign (VRSN)
The Reston, Virginia-based technology company is engaged in domain name registration and Internet network infrastructure.
VeriSign is the exclusive operator for registering the most popular domain names, . com and .net .
Berkshire Hathaway owned 12.82 million VeriSign shares worth $2.9 billion, representing 0.83% of its portfolio.
12. Citigroup (C.PRK)
Citigroup is a multinational, diversified financial institution that provides banking and asset management services .
Even as the bank continues to struggle to recover from its 2008 collapse at the height of the financial crisis, Buffett continues to keep Citibank in his basket of stocks.
As of June, Berkshirehrdina55.24 million shares of Citigroup , worth 2.54 billion USD, or 0.73% of its total portfolio.
13. Kroger Co. (KR)
When Barney Kroger opened a grocery store in Cincinnati with his $372 in savings, he didn’t expect it to grow into one of the largest retailers in the United States.
Berkshire added Kroger shares to its portfolio in the final quarter of 2019, paying $549 million for 18.4 million shares.
As of June 2023, it held 50 million shares of Kroger stock valued at $2.35 million.
As of October 2023, Kroger ‘s market cap is $31.74 billion.
14. Visa Inc. (IN)
The San Francisco-based company is the largest financial services company in the world.
As of October 2023, its market capitalization is 500 billion USD.
Buffett held 8.3 million Visa shares worth 1.97 billion USD as of June.
15. Mastercard Inc (MA)
Mastercard is the third largest financial services provider in the world after Visa and JP Morgan with a market capitalization of 362.19 billion USD (as of October 2023).
Like Visa, it offers global payment processing to individuals and businesses.
16. Aon PLC (AON)
The insurance company Aon provides insurance brokerage and risk advisory services to consulting and other professional services firms.
Berkshire Hathaway owns 4.33 million AON shares worth 1.5 billion USD, representing 0.43% of its portfolio.
The company has a market capitalization of 63.72 billion USD(as of October 2023).
17. Paramount Global Class B (PARA)
The media group Paramount Global produces and distributes content in four areas: entertainment, cable networks, publishing and local media.
Its well-known media brands include CBS Television Networks , the CBS All Access digital streaming service , and Simon & Schuster book publishing .
Paramount Global Class B was first added to Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio in Q1 2022.
As of June, the company owned 93.73 million PARA shares worth 1.49 billion USD.
18. Liberty Sirius XM Group Series C (LSXMK)
Liberty Sirius XM owns significant interests in radio, entertainment and communications companies.
The firm has an 83% stake in satellite radio broadcasting group Sirius
Berkshire owns 43.2 million shares of Liberty Sirius XM, valued at 1.41 billion USD.
19. Charter Communications (CHTR)
Charter Communications provides cable television networks, Internet, video-on-demand and telephone services.
It is the fifth largest telecommunications network in the United States by market capitalization at 64.3 billion USD (as of October 2023).
Berkshire Hathaway owns 3.83 million Charter Communications shares valued at 1.41 billion USD.
20. Amazon.com (AMZN)
Amazon had expanded its position as the world’s largest e-commerce company by market capitalization during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buffett’s holdings in Amazon rose 1.878% to 10.55 million shares in Q1 2022, compared to just 533,300 in the final quarter of 2019 when COVID-19 broke out.
As of June, Buffett owned 10.55 million AMZN shares, valued at 1.38 billion USD.
21. Capital One (COF)
Capital One, based in McLean, Virginia, is one of the largest retail banks in the United States. It offers checking and savings accounts, auto loans and credit cards.
Buffett began investing in the American bank in Q1 2023, purchasing 9.92 million shares.
In Q2 2023, the holding company acquired 2.54 million shares of Capital One , bringing its total holdings in the bank to 12.47 million shares valued at $1.36 billion.
22. Activision Blizzard
The Santa Monica-based company is the second-largest video game developer in the United States.
The firm made it into Berkshire Hathaway ‘s portfolio in Q3 2021 , when Buffett bought 16.5 million shares and increased his stake to 68.4 million shares by Q2 2022.
Since then, however, Berkshire Hathaway has gradually reduced its stake.
As of June 2023, Berkshire ‘s position in Activision had shrunk to 14.67 million shares worth $1.24 billion
23. Sněhová vločka (SNOW)
By purchasing Snowflake shares, Buffett made a surprising investment that contradicts his investment philosophy.
He purchased shares of the Bozman-based cloud computing startup during its initial public offering, although he is known for avoiding IPOs.
Buffett held 6.13 million shares of Snowflake stock , valued at $1.08 billion.
Snowflake has a market cap of $48.68 billion (as of October 2023).
24. General Motors
Berkshire Hathaway reduced its position in the largest US automaker by sales by a total of 56% from Q4 2022 to the end of Q2 2023.
As of June, it still held 22 million shares worth $848.32 million.
25. Nu Holdings
The Brazilian lender is one of the largest digital banking institutions in the world. It offers digital financial services in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and worldwide.
Berkshire Hathaway entered the Sao Paolo-based bank in Q4 2022 by buying 107.12 million shares worth $845.17 million.
As of October 2023, Nu Holdings ‘ market capitalization was $38.74 billion.
What is Berkshire Hathaway?
Now that you know Warren Buffett’s 25 best stocks, let’s take a step back and look at what Berkshire Hathaway is and how the world’s sixth richest person turned a failed textile company into a money-making machine with a market cap of $733.31 billion .
As of October 2023, the company, based in Omaha, Nebraska, is the eighth largest corporation in the world.
Berkshire Hathaway began as two separate Massachusetts cotton mills, Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates and Hathaway Manufacturing , before merging in 1955.
Buffett bought the company ten years later when it was struggling to survive as New England’s textile industry was dying.
With Buffett as CEO, Berkshire continued to expand into a sprawling conglomerate with businesses ranging from insurance, media, food and beverage to healthcare and live entertainment.
Many of the companies acquired in whole or in part by Berkshire Hathaway were in financial trouble before being transformed into thriving and profitable entities.
Berkshire Hathaway’s investment strategy
While it is impossible to discuss all of Buffett’s investing strategies that have earned him the nickname ” Oracle of Omaha , ” there are some core principles that he continues to adhere to.
Buffett is known as a value investor because he prefers to buy companies rather than stocks.
He is not interested in the daily performance of a company’s shares. This means he looks at the company as a whole, including its fundamentals such as profit margins and debt levels.
So Buffett in the 2022 annual letter :
“ In particular, please note that we own listed stocks based on our expectations of their long-term business performance and not because we view them as vehicles for savvy buying and selling. This point is crucial: Charlie and I are not stock pickers, we are business pickers. “
Buffett was referring to Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway ‘s vice chairman and his longtime business partner.
He credits Charlie, who is actually an architect, with making Berkshire Hathaway ‘s business what it is today.
“ However, in my view, Charlie’s most important architectural achievement was the design of what is now Berkshire . The concept he gave me was simple: Forget what you know about buying from fair companies at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful companies at fair prices. “
The 93-year-old legendary investor prefers companies that have consistently paid dividends over long periods of time.
Berkshire does not pay dividends to its shareholders, but instead reinvests its profits for growth, allowing shareholders to benefit from a higher Berkshire Hathaway share price.
Below, learn about Berkshire Hathaway ‘s top 25 holdings and some of the holding company’s largest positions.
Conclusion
As one of the world’s most prolific company pickers, Buffett’s main investment strategy is to buy high-quality, industry-leading companies at a cheap price and hold them for the long term.
When considering purchasing shares of a company, it is crucial to analyze the stocks’ overall performance rather than fixating on daily price movements.
Conduct thorough research to make an informed investment decision.
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