Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway $BRK.B, which owns GEICO and Dairy Queen, sold off about 1% of its stake in Apple $AAPL in the last quarter of 2023, the company revealed in new SEC filings.
Investors are now pouring over the filings to get insight into the Oracle $ORCL of Omaha’s views on the state of the market.
Berkshire Hathaway now has a 5.9% stake in the tech giant worth about $176 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. That is still over half of the company’s more than $300 billion stock portfolio.
Still, the latest move, along with the holding company’s slashing of its stake in computer-maker HP $HPQ by 78%, could signal tough times ahead for tech companies selling hardware. By contrast, Buffett’s moves show growing interest in the energy sector.
Apple on the decline
Apple stock has fallen 5% since the start of 2024, to less than $183 per share. In January, it lost its spot as the world’s most valuable company to Microsoft $MSFT, which has a market cap of $3 trillion. Apple’s market cap currently stands at $2.8 trillion.
A few brokerages have also downgraded Apple stock to a “sell” rating over concerns about iPhone demand, especially in China.
The company recently reported in its latest quarterly earnings that its net sales in China fell 13% year-over-year in the three months ended Dec. 30.
Where Warren Buffett is investing
In the last quarter of 2023, Berkshire Hathaway has increased its stake in Chevron $CVX by 18% to more than $18 billion, according to Forbes. The holding company also grew its stake in Occidental $OXY Petroleum by almost 9% to about $14.5 million.
Its stake in the satellite radio company SiriusXM increased to about $220 million, MarketWatch reported.