Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway continues to trim Apple stock from its portfolio. Berkshire’s third-quarter earnings have shown that the conglomerate sold around 25% of the iPhone maker’s shares it held previously.
Buffett started investing in Apple back in 2016 and eventually bought so many shares that it represented almost half of Berkshire’s holdings. However, starting in the final quarter of 2023, the company began downsizing Apple stock and has now sold it for the fourth straight quarter.
According to an earnings report shared on Saturday, Berkshire held $69.9 billion worth of Apple stock at the end of last quarter. This means that the conglomerate now holds 300 million Apple shares compared to the 400 million it held in the quarter prior.
Despite the sales, Apple is still the single largest stock holding on Berkshire’s portfolio.
It is unclear what prompted Berkshire’s sell-off, although Buffet had previously hinted that tax consideration played a significant part in the move. Apparently, he believes that the tax on capital gains will rise significantly in the future and wants to act beforehand.
However, some experts think that Buffet also deems Apple’s stock as “too expensive” and that the company’s business isn’t on track to see continued rapid growth as was the case in some previous years.