What’s in Warren Buffett’s Stock Portfolio?

Before jumping into the list of Buffett’s Stocks, we should highlight a couple of immediate caveats.

First, Warren Buffett’s holdings are revealed as part of Berkshire Hathaway’s Form 13F filing. This means the list of stocks includes selections made by the company’s investment managers (Todd Combs and Ted Weschler) as well as Buffett himself. So it’s important to note that unless Buffett takes public credit or blame for a specific pick, the stocks in the portfolio may not be his direct selection, even if he has the final say.

The business model is designed for Buffett to be able to buy stocks in almost any instance, regardless of the overall investing environment. Much of the company’s investing power is fueled by ‘float’ from its insurance companies (from the money that the insurance companies hold in reserve to pay out policyholder claims). As long as the insurance companies owned by Berkshire Hathaway – Geico, BH Insurance, General Re (and others) – are growing their premiums, Berkshire Hathaway will have increasing amounts of money to invest in the market, or to acquire other companies completely.

And lastly, the reports of Buffett’s holdings come 45 days after they are filed, meaning they may have changed in the interim (although this is unlikely). Buffett is a long-term investor – he’s said in the past that his favourite period to hold a stock is ‘forever’ – but there are always exceptions to the rule.

Despite these caveats, there can still be a lot to learn from his picks, and many investors love to follow his 13F filing news each quarter as soon as they are released. This is why we update this article as soon as possible after each filing.

Berkshire Hathaway’s most recent portfolio turnover sits at a healthy 6.4% QoQ, which reflects Buffett’s long-term investing strategy. Here are the latest largest positions.

1. Apple Inc. (AAPL) – 30.1%

The position currently sits at 30.1% of the overall portfolio as of the latest 13F, down from the previous filing of 40.8%. It’s a huge position for the company and for Buffett himself, who was once famous for not investing in technology companies. In his 2022 shareholder letter, Buffett called Apple one of the four giants of the entire Berkshire Hathaway operation. He wrote, “It’s important to understand that only dividends from Apple are counted in the GAAP earnings Berkshire reports – and last year, Apple paid us $785 million of those. Yet our “share” of Apple’s earnings amounted to a staggering $5.6 billion.”

2. Bank of America (BAC) – 14.7%

The big drop to his next biggest position has closed slightly since the last filing. Bank of America now sits at 14.7% of his portfolio (previously 11.8%). In monetary terms, at the moment that means around $39.15B. This position started as a preferred stock and warrants position that Buffett picked up in 2011, amidst fear over the U.S. debt ceiling. Berkshire then converted that to a common stock position in 2017, and has both increased the number of shares it owns (44% increase) and seen the total value increase by 6x.

3. American Express Company (AXP) – 12.5%

Recently replacing Chevron as the third largest position in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio, American Express holds 12.5% in size, only just under Bank of America. AXP has been a long-time staple of Buffett’s portfolio, given his opportunistic buying of the stock after the ‘salad oil scandal’ in 1963.

4. The Coca Cola Company (KO) – 9.1%

Coca Cola. This industry giant is almost synonymous with Buffett’s investment legend, given his constant touting of the company not only as a stock, but as a product. This holding remains solidly in Buffett’s ‘top five’ list, and it’s unlikely that we’ll see it drop at any point in the near future.

5. Chevron (CVX) – 6.6%

Rounding out the top five positions is Chevron, which had been Buffett’s third largest holding only a couple of years ago. Buffett has been buying and selling oil and energy stocks quite a lot in the last couple of years, including Chevron. Occidental Petroleum (OXY) is another major position Buffett added to over the course of the year. Berkshire outperformed the market in part due to this energy exposure.

It may come as a surprise that as part of his investment strategy, Buffett prefers share buybacks to dividends. Nevertheless, Berkshire Hathaway’s stocks are more likely to be dividend stocks than not. Each of the five biggest stocks mentioned above pays a dividend, with Apple’s dividend amounting to $785M to Berkshire Hathaway in 2021. In his shareholder letter written in the same year, Buffett praised Apple CEO Tim Cook’s share buyback policy and his “managerial touch” from a shareholder perspective. Chevron is another example of a firm launching a major share buyback campaign.

Other dividend stocks in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio include:

In total, 25 out of the 41 stocks reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s Form 13F filing are currently dividend payers.

While the Berkshire Hathaway filings have been relatively quiet over the past few years, with an overall turnover percentage of less than 7%, there have nevertheless been some movements each quarter that are worth keeping an eye on.

These buys have mostly included increasing percentage stakes in stocks already owned, but a notable exception has been Chubb (CB), which is a brand new addition to the portfolio.

The table below shows the largest additions to the portfolio holdings based on the last two Form 13F filings.

The quarter’s sale of Hewlett-Packard stocks saw the completion of a complete divestment from the shares, meaning that Berkshire Hathaway now has no position in that company. The other sales were reductions of holdings; Buffett still owns significant shares in each, albeit with rebalanced weightings in relation to the rest of the overall portfolio (such as Chevron no longer being the 3rd largest holding).

The table below shows the largest reductions to the portfolio holdings based on the last two Form 13F filings.

Learning from Buffett’s investment rules offers invaluable insights into navigating volatile markets, identifying undervalued opportunities, and fostering a mindset that prioritizes enduring value over short-term gains. By understanding and applying Buffett’s strategies, investors can cultivate a resilient investment approach that stands the test of time.

To learn more, investors can read our specific article all about Warren Buffett’s biggest investing rules and ongoing strategy.

Looking for Warren Buffett’s latest and favorite selections, so you can find your next favorite investment opportunity?

To see his latest positions, biggest buys and sells, and to get a neutral estimate of fair value and thousands of additional data points on each stock in his Form 13F filing each quarter, check out InvestingPro.

The research tool makes it easy for you to follow the greatest investors in the world and see what they’re buying, how those picks are performing, and figure out whether those are good picks for you.