Free Trial

Buffett's Latest Buys: What Stocks Is He Adding to His Portfolio?

Warren Buffett stock price

Key Points

  • Details about Berkshire Hathaway holdings were revealed in a regulatory filing on May 15. 
  • Berkshire Hathaway's stake in Occidental Petroleum totals over $13.2 billion. Buffett's exposure to the energy sector includes a $21.6 billion holding in Chevron.
  • In the most recent quarter, Berkshire acquired $954 million in shares of Capital One Financial.
  • Berkshire sold all its shares in Taiwan Semiconductor. 
  • Five stocks we like better than Berkshire Hathaway.
Remove Ads

At the most recent Berkshire Hathaway Inc. NYSE: BRK.B  investors conference in early May, Warren Buffett offered some insights into his most recent buys and sells, but more detail was released in a regulatory filing on May 15, after the market’s close.

At the conference, Buffett mentioned Occidental Petroleum Corp. NYSE: OXY, which he’s been accumulating. According to the May 15 filing, Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in the Houston-based explorer and producer totals more than $13.2 billion. Occidental’s current market capitalization is $51.89 billion.

Combined with Berkshire’s $21.6 billion holding in Chevron Co. NYSE: CVX, that’s hefty exposure to the energy sector. Since the fourth quarter of 2022, Berkshire has been unloading shares of Chevron, but it’s still among the firm’s top holdings. 

The details about recent holdings come from form 13F, a required document for institutional investment managers to list securities exceeding a certain ownership threshold. Any holdings of less than 10,000 shares and with a market value under $200,000 wouldn’t be listed on the 13F. While it’s possible that Berkshire has some of those small positions, the company tends to go big, and Buffett followers are watching for those big stakes.

Stocks Move On Buffett News

Stocks often move on news that Buffett has entered or exited a position. What’s interesting, though, is that the actual buys and sells can push the stock in either direction, but the public doesn’t know Buffett may be behind the move until regulatory filings are released.

For example, shares of home decor retailer RH NYSE: RH gapped down 8.12% on May 16, as investors realized Berkshire had unloaded its entire stake, which it began accumulating in 2019. 

Remove Ads

The filing revealed a large new holding in Capital One Financial Corp. NYSE: COF. In the quarter ended on March 31, Berkshire acquired $954 million in shares of the online bank and credit card issuer. 

Buffett’s company also holds shares in Visa Inc. NYSE: V, Mastercard Inc. NYSE: MA and American Express Co. NYSE: AXP

When it comes to the banking industry, Buffett added to positions in Bank of America NYSE: BAC and Citigroup Inc. NYSE: C, while paring back Ally Financial Inc. NYSE: ALLY and eliminating Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. NYSE: BK and U.S. Bancorp NYSE: USB.

Paring Back BYD Stake

One company that’s gotten a lot of attention as a Berkshire holding is EV maker BYD Co. Ltd. OTCMKTS: BYDDF. In recent quarters, Buffett has been unloading BYD shares, saying that he’s shifting his focus away from China and toward Japan.  won’t appear on the 13F. Buffett reportedly owns about 108.34 million shares in the company, for a nearly 10% stake. 

However, that won’t show up on Securities and Exchange Commission filings, as Buffett purchased the BYD shares on the Hong Kong exchange. 

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. NYSE: TSM was another casualty of Buffett’s pivot away from China. The latest filing reveals Berkshire sold all its shares of the chipmaker.

Buffett isn’t known as a speculator (far from it, in fact), but he does frequently engage in trades that fall under the “merger arbitrage” category. His holding in Activision Blizzard Inc. NASDAQ: ATVI is an example. 

Buffett pared back his position in the video game producer. He now holds 49.4 million shares, a decrease from 52.7 million at the end of the prior quarter. 

Merger Arbitrage

Merger arbitrage is an investment strategy that aims to profit from price discrepancies between a target company's stock price before and after a merger or acquisition announcement. In the case of Activision, an acquisition by Microsoft Corp. NASDAQ: MSFT is pending while trade regulators review the deal. 

The acquisition price is $95 a share, but due to regulatory uncertainty, Activision Blizzard stock never reached that level, as you can see on the Activision Blizzard chart. Buffett may be losing confidence that the deal will go through, if his recent share sales are an indication. 

As of the end of the first quarter, Berkshire Hathaway’s biggest holdings are: 

Should You Invest $1,000 in Berkshire Hathaway Right Now?

Before you consider Berkshire Hathaway, you'll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Berkshire Hathaway wasn't on the list.

While Berkshire Hathaway currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.

View The Five Stocks Here

Beginner's Guide To Retirement Stocks Cover

Enter your email address and we'll send you MarketBeat's list of seven best retirement stocks and why they should be in your portfolio.

Get This Free Report
Kate Stalter
About The Author

Kate Stalter

Contributing Author

Retirement, Asset Allocation, and Tax Strategies

Like this article? Share it with a colleague.

Companies Mentioned in This Article

CompanyMarketRank™Current PricePrice ChangeDividend YieldP/E RatioConsensus RatingConsensus Price Target
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)
0.9009 of 5 stars
$533.14+0.1%N/A10.77Moderate Buy$520.00
Occidental Petroleum (OXY)
4.5665 of 5 stars
$49.22-0.3%1.95%20.17Hold$59.82
Chevron (CVX)
4.5531 of 5 stars
$168.43+0.7%4.06%17.33Moderate Buy$174.13
RH (RH)
4.7392 of 5 stars
$238.82+1.9%N/A68.63Moderate Buy$400.13
Capital One Financial (COF)
4.723 of 5 stars
$178.19-0.6%1.35%15.37Moderate Buy$206.63
Visa (V)
4.3249 of 5 stars
$346.80-1.0%0.68%34.96Moderate Buy$355.84
Mastercard (MA)
4.821 of 5 stars
$548.16+0.0%0.55%39.46Moderate Buy$606.11
American Express (AXP)
4.8315 of 5 stars
$270.31+0.5%1.21%19.29Hold$302.57
Bank of America (BAC)
4.9232 of 5 stars
$41.49-0.6%2.51%12.88Moderate Buy$48.31
Citigroup (C)
4.9824 of 5 stars
$70.48-0.7%3.18%11.85Moderate Buy$84.29
U.S. Bancorp (USB)
4.9979 of 5 stars
$41.75-1.1%4.79%11.01Moderate Buy$53.21
Ally Financial (ALLY)
4.9796 of 5 stars
$36.64+0.5%3.27%14.09Hold$42.65
Bank of New York Mellon (BK)
4.7645 of 5 stars
$83.74-0.2%2.24%14.41Moderate Buy$90.00
BYD (BYDDF)
1.915 of 5 stars
$49.00-3.7%N/A30.25Buy$85.00
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM)
4.5447 of 5 stars
$168.46+1.5%1.28%23.93Moderate Buy$220.00
Activision Blizzard (ATVI)
0.8192 of 5 stars
$94.42flat1.05%34.59N/AN/A
Microsoft (MSFT)
4.9366 of 5 stars
$382.19+1.8%0.87%30.77Moderate Buy$508.86
Apple (AAPL)
4.6759 of 5 stars
$223.19+0.5%0.45%35.43Moderate Buy$245.52
Coca-Cola (KO)
4.1298 of 5 stars
$71.85+0.3%2.84%29.09Buy$74.24
Compare These Stocks  Add These Stocks to My Watchlist 

Remove Ads

Featured Articles and Offers

HIMS Stock Up 120%! More Growth Ahead?

HIMS Stock Up 120%! More Growth Ahead?

Hims & Hers (NYSE: HIMS) has skyrocketed 120% in just a month! Is it the next big disruptor in healthcare, or is it overpriced?

Recent Videos

 5 Stocks to BUY NOW in April 2025
3 Bank Stocks Defying Market Turmoil—Cheap Options Trades!
Time to Buy SoFi? Fintech’s Next Big Move

Stock Lists

All Stock Lists

Investing Tools

Calendars and Tools

Search Headlines

Remove Ads