Berkshire Hathaway sold about a quarter of its Apple stake before Warren Buffett stepped down, cutting the position from roughly 300 million shares to about 228 million. Apple still makes up about 22% of Berkshire's equity portfolio, worth somewhere around $60 billion — its largest single stock holding.
Apple remains the biggest stock position Berkshire Hathaway owns, even after the selling. Berkshire cut the stake from about 300 million shares to roughly 228 million, roughly a quarter of the position, yet what is left still accounts for about 22% of the equity portfolio.
That leaves a holding worth somewhere around $60 billion — larger than Berkshire's American Express position and larger than the Alphabet stake new Chief Executive Officer Greg Abel has been piling into instead. Berkshire also sits on an enormous unrealized gain, because its cost basis is a fraction of today's price, and the shares throw off a steady stream of dividends every year.
Buybacks raise Berkshire's stake without a purchase
Apple spends tens of billions of dollars a year buying back its own stock, steadily shrinking the number of shares in circulation. Because the total share count keeps falling, Berkshire's ownership percentage of Apple slowly rises even though it has not bought a single new share, so its claim on Apple's future profits grows on autopilot.
Buffett has praised that dynamic for years, calling it one of the reasons he loved the investment. He once compared it to an owner's share of a business rising simply because the other partners keep buying each other out.
Why the trim looks like risk management
Apple's position had grown so large that at one point it was worth more than everything else in the equity portfolio combined, a level of concentration that made even Buffett uncomfortable. Motley Fool contributor Micah Zimmerman reads the sales as managing that risk and locking in gains at a rich price rather than abandoning the thesis, and treats keeping roughly $60 billion in Apple as a statement of enduring conviction under Abel.
Apple shares traded at $338.19, down 0.6%, within a 52-week range of $201.50 to $344.57.
None of that makes Apple untouchable. Its growth has slowed, it is widely seen as trailing in artificial intelligence, and it is navigating a leadership handoff to new CEO John Ternus, whose expertise is in hardware engineering.
Apple stock also trades at a premium, and Zimmerman argues that even Berkshire taking profits is a reminder that valuation matters. A stumble at Apple would still ripple straight through Berkshire's results, given how large the stake remains.
Source: The Motley Fool
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