(Nov 15): Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 17.9 million shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc during the third quarter, while further trimming its holdings in Bank of America Corp and Apple Inc.
Berkshire’s Alphabet stake, representing 0.31% of the outstanding shares, according to a regulatory filing Friday, was worth about US$4.9 billion as of the market close.
Shares of Alphabet rose 1.7% to US$281 in extended trading at 5.05pm in New York.
Buffett, 95, who plans to step down as chief executive officer at year-end, has been finding ways to deploy some of Berkshire’s cash pile, which rose to a record US$382 billion at the end of the quarter. The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate recently reached a deal to buy Occidental Petroleum Corp’s petrochemical business for US$9.7 billion and acquired a US$1.6 billion stake in UnitedHealth Group Inc.
Berkshire also added 4.3 million shares of insurer Chubb Ltd, boosting the value of that holding to US$8.8 billion at the end of the quarter.
Still, the company was a net seller of equities during the period, offloading US$6.1 billion of stocks.
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Berkshire trimmed its Apple stake by 15%, leaving it with a holding valued at US$60.7 billion as of Sept 30. The Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker still accounts for almost a quarter of Berkshire’s equity portfolio.
The conglomerate sold 37.2 million Bank of America shares, leaving it with a 7.7% stake in the Wall Street firm.
Berkshire also exited its position in US home builder DR Horton Inc, while it continued to add to its holding in Lennar Corp.
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