“Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its investments in Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd during the second quarter and confirmed it has expanded its already huge bet on iPhone maker Apple Inc,” Jonathan Stempel reports for Reuters. “The changes were disclosed on Tuesday in a regulatory filing detailing Berkshire’s U.S.-listed stock holdings as of June 30.”
“Its Apple stake swelled to about 252 million shares worth close to $47 billion, up 5 percent from 239.6 million shares three months earlier,” Stempel reports. “Berkshire owns roughly 5 percent of Apple, whose market value surpassed $1 trillion last week.”
“Buffett, who turns 88 on Aug. 30, often buys stock when he cannot find whole businesses to add to Berkshire’s stable of more than 90 companies in the insurance, energy, food and retail, industrial, railroad and other sectors,” Stempel reports. “The billionaire has gone 2-1/2 years since completing a major acquisition for Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Berkshire’s position is valued at over $52.8 billion when using Tuesday’s market close of $209.75. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Berkshire Hathaway’s average cost-basis has been $141.18 per share for paper gains of more than $17.2 billion. Berkshire has only been invested in Apple since the first quarter of 2016 and very likely wishes they’d gotten in much sooner!
It’s nice to know that with every new iPhone I buy, I make Warren Buffet a little richer.
this is great news, a total vote of confidence in Apple. Much better and relevant then the apple is doomed and gloomed false news projected by biased manipulators
Thank goodness for W. Buffett & Co. If it wasn’t for his vote of confidence in Apple, I’m sure Apple wouldn’t have a $1T market cap. Most of the other big investors would have long bailed out on Tim Cook and thrown all their money at Jeff Bezos. It’s just so strange how Buffett believes in Apple and so many other funds do not. Is betting on Apple really that risk for a fund. Some of those institutional funds stay with some real stinkers of companies but I suppose they feel safer with them than Apple.
I’ve owned Apple stock since 2004 and only had a few rocky times when the market has been in turmoil (2008-2009) but overall Apple has come out a huge winner. I honestly don’t see why the institutional funds stay away from Apple. I’m basing this on Apple’s (60%) relatively low institutional ownership percentage when compared to say, Microsoft (74%), Google (69%) or even Netflix (74%). Apple is low company on the FANG totem pole of institutional ownership percentage. I really don’t understand why.
i wonder how Warren Buffets good friend Billy Goat Gates feel about Mr Buffets support for Apple ? 🙂