Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Bought Verizon and Chevron. Here’s What Else It Traded.
Berkshire Hathaway disclosed fourth-quarter buys of Merck, Bristol-Myers, and AbbVie, while exiting Pfizer.
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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway recently made significant changes in its portfolio, apart from buying Verizon Communications and Chevron, and selling some Apple stock.
In the fourth quarter, Berkshire (ticker: BRK.B ) added to positions in Merck (MRK), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), and AbbVie (ABBV), and exited an investment in Pfizer (PFE). Buffett’s firm also continued cutting back on Wells Fargo (WFC) stock and sold all its PNC Financial Services (PNC) shares. Elsewhere, Berkshire bought up more Kroger (KR) and trimmed its investment in General Motors (GM).
Buffett’s firm disclosed the stock trades, among others, in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Berkshire Hathaway didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the investment changes.
The firm increased its investments in Merck, Bristol-Myers, and AbbVie by 28.1% to 28.7 million shares, 11.2% to 33.3 million shares, and 20% to 25.5 million shares, respectively. Berkshire Hathaway sold all of the 3.7 million Pfizer shares in the fourth quarter that it had owned at the end of the third.
Berkshire Hathaway slashed its Wells Fargo stake by 59% to 52.4 million shares, and sold all 1.9 million PNC shares it held.
Buffett’s firm increased its stake in grocer Kroger by 34.3%, ending 2020 with 33.5 million shares. Berkshire sliced its GM stake by 9.4% to 72.5 million shares.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.
