Few investors command Wall Street’s attention quite like Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B) CEO Warren Buffett. Since taking the reins in 1965, the appropriately named “Oracle of Omaha” has nearly doubled up the annualized total return of the benchmark S&P 500. On an aggregate basis, Buffett has overseen a gain of 5,174,441% in Berkshire’s Class A shares (BRK.A), as of the closing bell on August 7.
Given how decisively Warren Buffett has crushed the S&P 500, it’s no surprise that investors eagerly await clues as to what he and his team have been buying and selling.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. Image source: The Motley Fool.
Traditionally, these “clues” come in the form of a 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A 13F is a quarterly filing that provides an under-the-hood look at what Wall Street’s smartest (and richest) money managers have purchased and sold. Berkshire’s 13F detailing its activity during the June-ended quarter is slated for release after the closing bell on August 14.
But you don’t always have to wait for Berkshire’s 13F to know what the Oracle of Omaha and his top investment aides, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, have been up to. Thanks to the company’s quarterly operating results, annual shareholder meeting, and Form 4 filings with the SEC, we already know about three big moves that have been made.
Based on these various clues, which I’ll touch on in more detail in a moment, I’d opine that Buffett is selling two additional holdings that Wall Street and investors don’t yet know about.
Warren Buffett has been a big-time net-seller of equities
One stock we absolutely know the Oracle of Omaha has been dumping is Berkshire Hathaway’s longtime top holding, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Based on fair value estimates for Apple (as of June 30), which were highlighted in Berkshire’s second-quarter operating results, we can approximate that nearly half of the 789.37 million shares that were held as of March 31 were sold over the subsequent three months.
During Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in early May,…
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