Berkshire Hathaway Reduces Apple Stock Holding

In a move that has caught the attention of market commentators, Berkshire Hathaway, the enterprise led by renowned investor Warren Buffett, has made a significant adjustment to its Apple stock holdings.

The conglomerate sold 100 million shares of Apple, reducing its ownership by 25%. Despite this sale, Berkshire Hathaway still holds a formidable $69.9 billion in Apple shares, maintaining the tech giant as its biggest stock investment.

Throughout 2024, the company has reduced its Apple stake by over 600 million shares, yet this strategic decision has not stifled Berkshire's financial growth. Apple's stock price in the last month has somewhat stagnated, down 1.72% after a solid start to the year. Despite the recent pullback, AAPL remains firmly green through 2024, with gains of 20% almost matching that of the S&P 500 over the same time-frame.

Berkshire Hathaway's stock performance remains robust, boasting a 26% increase year-to-date, which notably surpasses the 20% rise of the S&P 500. However, it's not all onward and upward, as the company's operating profit experienced a 6% decline, dropping to $10.09 billion. In contrast, net income made an impressive leap to $26.25 billion.

Buffet's firm has been continuing to increase it's cash position this year, potentially indicating a major move on the horizon, or a view that value is harder to come by after the recent market run up which has seen the leading US indices add 50% over the past 2 years. The pullback in position in AAPL could be telling us a lot, or not much at all, hindsight and time will clear the blur.