Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway revealed a position in embattled healthcare giant UnitedHealth Group and reported smaller stakes in longtime holdings Apple and Bank of America, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.
Berkshire (BRK.A, BRK.B) at the end of the second quarter held 5 million shares of UnitedHealth Group (UNH) valued at about $1.6 billion. The company has likely been accumulating shares since the fourth quarter of last year, when it first asked regulators to let it build a position in secret to avoid a price spike. Shares of UnitedHealth Group jumped more than 10% in extended trading Thursday.
Berkshire also opened smaller new positions in security products provider Allegion (ALLE), homebuilder D.R. Horton (DHI), Lamar Advertising (LAMR), and steelmaker Nucor (NUE), all of which saw their stocks rise after hours.
T-Mobile (TMUS) was Berkshire’s sole exit. The conglomerate sold the entirety of its $1 billion stake in the telecommunications giant. It also offloaded nearly half of its Charter Communications (CHTR) holdings.
Berkshire made smaller cuts to two of its largest holdings, selling 20 million of its 300 million Apple (AAPL) shares and 26 million of its 630 million Bank of America (BAC) shares. Buffett began paring Berkshire’s stakes in both last year.
Buffett scooped up 3 million shares of Chevron (CVX), another of his biggest holdings, and left stakes in longtime investments Coca-Cola (KO) and American Express (AXP) untouched.
Berkshire slashed its exposure to banks in the first quarter, exiting its position in Citigroup (C) and trimming its holdings of Bank of America and Capital One (COF). On the flip side, the firm added to some of its food and beverage holdings, including alcohol maker Constellation Brands (STZ) and Domino’s Pizza (DPZ).
In the second quarter, the firm seemed to favor homebuilders. On top of entering D.R. Horton, Berkshire bought about 7 million shares of competitor Lennar (LEN), upping its stake from just 150,000 shares.
Berkshire shares have shed about 11% of their value since Buffett announced in early May that he would step down as CEO at the end of 2025. Still, the stock is up almost 6% since the start of the year.
