Warren Buffett speaks during Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting on May 3, 2025 in Omaha, Nebraska.
CNBC
Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway Perhaps he has quietly trimmed his mass Apple According to a new regulatory filing, the stake will be increased again in the third quarter.
In its most recent quarterly report, Berkshire said the cost base of its consumer staples holdings fell by about $1.2 billion from the previous quarter. This category is dominated by the giant corporation's Apple position, meaning the decline is likely due to additional sales of Apple shares.
Apple shares rose more than 24% in the third quarter, a rally that would have provided Buffett with an attractive profit-taking opportunity.
Stock chart iconStock chart icon
Apple year to date
Buffett embarked on a high-profile selling spree at Apple in 2024, cutting two-thirds of Berkshire's shares – a surprising move for the famously long-term investor. Berkshire also reduced its Apple stake in the second quarter of this year. The iPhone maker was still Berkshire's largest holding at the end of June, when it controlled 280 million shares worth $57 billion.
Investors will have more clarity on the exact size of Berkshire's Apple position when the company releases its detailed 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission later this month. All changes to individual stock holdings will be announced by September 30th.
Buffett had previously suggested that the sale of the Apple stake was for tax reasons, but others speculated that the size of the sales suggested that the so-called Oracle of Omaha was also concerned about Apple's high valuation. Some thought it was also part of portfolio management, since the Apple stake had grown so large that it once accounted for more than half of Berkshire's investment portfolio.
Berkshire has been a net seller of stocks for 12 straight quarters and raised more than $6 billion in cash in the third quarter. Buffett's one-time favorite measure of stock market valuations, which measures the total value of all publicly traded U.S. stocks compared to the entire gross domestic product of the United States, has climbed to an all-time high, reaching levels he once described as “playing with fire.”