During the second quarter, Warren Buffett increased Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings in oil majors Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY). According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 15, the conglomerate owned by the Oracle of Omaha, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A), also raised its shares in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) during the second quarter.
In contrast to the $51 billion allocated for equities during the first quarter, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) spent $6 billion on stocks during the second quarter.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the conglomerate’s largest holding, saw an additional four million shares purchased. Its total share count is 894.8 million.
Adding 2.4 million extra shares to its existing 161.4 million, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)increased its stake in Chevron while also acquiring 22 million more Occidental Petroleum shares. As of June 30th, it had 158.5 million shares. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)now owns 188 million Occidental shares, or 20% of the energy business, after adding to its holdings.
Activision Blizzard currently has 68.3 million shares in the company after it bought an additional four million.
At Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in April, Buffett told shareholders that the business continued to increase its position in the video game industry because it functions as an arbitrage play. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) plans to buy Activision for $95 per share.
The corporation reduced its interest in General Motors (NYSE:GM) by nine million shares and now holds 52.9 million shares. Additionally, on March 31, it divested its remaining tiny stake in Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), which was 160 million shares at the end of 2021.
Berkshire Hathaway sold five million shares of the grocery store chain Kroger and currently owns 52.4 million shares.
The conglomerate also increased its interest in Paramount Global (PARA) by nine million shares, for a total of 78.4 million, and its investment in Ally Financial by twenty million shares, for a total of 28.7 million.
Buffett’s Conglomerate
Buffett’s conglomerate sold six million U.S. Bancorp shares for a total of 119.8 million and reduced its investment in Store Capital (STOR) by eight million shares to 6.9 million.
During the market instability, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) incurred investment losses, but the operating income of its several businesses, including energy, insurance, and utilities, surged. During the second quarter of 2022, the conglomerate’s operating earnings climbed by 38.8% to $9.283 billion, compared to the same period the previous year.
Berkshire (NYSE:BRK.A)said on August 6 that the firms were not immune to the continual market upheaval, as their value decreased by $53 billion during the quarter.
But Buffett, a well-known and highly regarded investor cautioned against focusing just on its investments’ short-term volatility.
The number of investment gains/losses in any particular quarter is typically meaningless and produces net earnings per share figures that can be exceedingly deceptive to investors with limited or no knowledge of accounting standards, Berkshire stated in a statement.
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