Greg Abel Grew Berkshire Hathaway's Alphabet Stake by 83% Last Quarter, One of His Boldest Equity Bets Yet as CEO. Is Alphabet Now a Core Berkshire Holding?
It's now the third-largest position in the conglomerate's equity portfolio.
Overview
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA)(NYSE: BRKB) added shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) to its stock portfolio for the first time when Warren Buffett was still CEO. Since then, it has dramatically expanded its position, and under new CEO Greg Abel's watch, it has become the third-largest (and sometimes fourth-largest, depending on daily stock price movements) position in the equity portfolio.
Let's take a look at how it fits into the company's core holdings.
Details
Buffett has grouped his favorite stocks into a trio that he often praises. These core holdings include Coca-Cola and American Express, his two longest-held stocks, which Berkshire started accumulating in the 1990s. Buffett has said that he would never sell these stocks, and so far Berkshire never has. The third member of that trio is the more recently added Apple, which Buffett has said will always be a big part of the portfolio. Admittedly, he did sell more than 75% of Berkshire's Apple stake in recent years after it grew so large that it accounted for more than half of the conglomerate's equity portfolio. But that doesn't mean he stopped being a fan of the stock, only that he viewed it as too high a level of concentration in one company.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.