Four times a year, holding companies of a certain size are required to divulge their positions in equities. That's a great thing for followers of Warren Buffett, widely considered the greatest long-term investor of all time. His company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (ticker: BRK.B, BRK.A), which he still helms at age 93, owns a sprawling equities portfolio that directly reflects what stocks Buffett likes.
Although investors don't have an up-to-the-minute reflection of what Berkshire owns, the company's 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 14 reveals the complete Berkshire Hathaway portfolio as of Dec. 31, 2023.
Why Follow Berkshire Hathaway Stock Picks?
There's a reason Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting is considered such a big occasion by Wall Street. Every May, more than 30,000 people flock to Omaha, Nebraska, just to hear sage wisdom from the elderly duo of Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger. Munger passed away in November at the age of 99, about six months after holding court at the 2023 annual meeting with Buffett, his longtime friend and business partner.
Future shareholder meetings will surely miss Munger's acerbic wit and business insights.
While the annual meeting will lose some of its pep in 2024, people will still closely watch the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio for a simple reason: The company's long-term track record is absolutely unparalleled. In the 58 calendar years from 1965 to 2022 (Berkshire will release its 2023 return calculations soon), Berkshire Hathaway stock appreciated at a 19.8% compound annual growth rate, compared with a 9.9% annualized return for the S&P 500. To illustrate the power of compounding, that amounted to a 3,787,464% return for Berkshire shareholders, compared with a 24,708% return for investors in the S&P 500.
For every $10,000 invested in Berkshire in 1965, investors would have $378.76 million by the end of 2022. S&P 500 investors would have $2.48 million. Returns like that simply can't be generated by a lucky hand.
What Stocks Is Berkshire Buying and Selling?
Buffett's extreme long-term bias is part of what makes him an excellent investor – it's an edge few other investors have the patience or temperament for. When Berkshire agreed in 2015 to make its largest-ever acquisition, paying $32.1 billion for total ownership of industrial giant Precision Castparts Corp., Buffett brushed off concerns over the bear market in energy prices at the time as myopic, telling CNBC, "We're going to be in this business for 100 years."
Another famous nugget of wisdom from Buffett is his quip that his favorite holding period is "forever."
All that's to say that when Berkshire makes changes to its portfolio, it tends to carry weight.
Here are three notable recent stock purchases Berkshire Hathaway made in its portfolio, each of which was a decision to add to an existing position. Berkshire did not start any entirely new positions in the fourth quarter of 2023:
- Chevron Corp. (CVX). Buffett snapped up 15.8 million shares of the oil major in the fourth quarter, amassing a stake that amounts to nearly $20 billion as of Feb. 21, making Chevron a top-five holding in Berkshire's portfolio.
- Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY). In a disclosure dated Feb. 5, Buffett disclosed new purchases of U.S. oil and gas company Occidental Petroleum. Berkshire first initiated a position in OXY back in 2019, when it helped to fund the acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum. Since then, Berkshire has continued to be a net buyer of Occidental shares, and now owns more than 28% of the company. Occidental is Berkshire's sixth-largest holding, right behind Chevron.
- SiriusXM Holdings Inc. (SIRI). Buffett more than quadrupled his stake in satellite radio company SiriusXM in the fourth quarter, adding more than 30 million shares. Despite the large percentage change in Berkshire's exposure here, the roughly $190 million stake in SIRI still represents just 0.1% of Berkshire's overall portfolio, illustrating the gargantuan size of the holding company.
The financial holding company was also active on the selling side of the ledger. While Berkshire trimmed its positions in several stocks, it only sold out of four names completely. Here are the stocks Berkshire removed entirely from its portfolio in the fourth quarter:
- D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI), a large U.S. homebuilder that was an uncharacteristically short-term holding for Berkshire; DHI was first added to its portfolio in the second quarter of 2023, only to be liquidated two quarters later.
- Markel Group Inc. (MKL), a specialty insurance company Berkshire added to its portfolio in the first quarter of 2022.
- StoneCo Ltd. (STNE), a Brazilian fintech firm Berkshire had held since 2018.
- Globe Life Inc. (GL), an insurance company offering health and life products that Berkshire had held since 2001, when it was known as Torchmark. The stock generated an 812% return for Berkshire over 22 years.
Zooming Out: Characteristics of Berkshire Hathaway Holdings
Although Berkshire Hathaway's stock portfolio – worth about $370 billion – comprises 47 positions, it's not quite as diversified as you might expect for a grouping of that many stocks.
In fact, concentrated bets on companies in which Buffett has high confidence are a big part of what has made him such a fabulously successful investor over time. It's harder to be concentrated with the massive sum of money Berkshire controls, but it's doing a good job regardless: Its top six holdings make up 78% of Berkshire's stock portfolio. And its single largest position, Apple Inc. (AAPL), makes up almost 45% of its portfolio.
In terms of sectors, the huge bet on Apple means information technology is the most heavily represented sector, constituting about 51% of the portfolio as of Dec. 31. Financial companies accounted for 24% of the portfolio, consumer staples accounted for 10.9% and energy represented 9.6%.
Here's a look at the complete Berkshire Hathaway portfolio as of the company's fourth-quarter filing. Values reflect closing prices as of Feb. 21, based on holdings that were current as of Dec. 31, with exceptions noted:
