Buffett's Berkshire pares drug holdings, sheds Axalta, Biogen

Reuters2021-08-17

Aug 16 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc said on Monday it trimmed or eliminated its stakes in several pharmaceutical companies, and reported a small new stake in a Merck & Co spinoff, Organon & Co.

In the second quarter, Berkshire said it exited a $180 million stake in Biogen Inc and reduced investments in Abbvie Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Merck.

It also shed a $411 million stake in paint maker Axalta Coating Systems Ltd, a Berkshire holding since 2015.

The changes were disclosed in a regulatory filing detailing Berkshire's U.S.-listed holdings as of June 30.

Berkshire has been a net seller of stocks in 2021, including in the second quarter when it sold $1.1 billion more stocks than it bought.

That suggests Buffett and his investment managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler remain wary of valuations as stock prices regularly set new highs.

The Standard & Poor's has doubled from its March 2020 trough early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Berkshire has instead bought back about $14.3 billion of its own stock between January and late July though its share price also set records, and now sits just 2% below its May 7 peak.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate ended June with $144.1 billion of cash and equivalents. Berkshire also owns dozens of businesses including the BNSF railroad, Geico auto insurance and Dairy Queen ice cream.

Organon specializes in contraception and other women's health products, and has dozens of brands in other fields.

Berkshire reported a $46.9 million Organon stake as of June 30.

Its largest investments on that date were $124.3 billion in Apple Inc and $42.6 billion in $Bank of America Corp(BAC-N)$.

In Monday's filing, Berkshire also reported lowered stakes in Chevron Corp, General Motors Co, media company Liberty Global Plc, insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos and US Bancorp.

It reported increased stakes in supermarket chain Kroger Co, home furnishings chain RH and Marsh rival Aon Plc, which under regulatory pressure called off a $30 billion merger with Willis Towers Watson Plc last month.

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Comments

Portfolio50
2021-08-17
Portfolio50
Net seller of stocks and that much cash - not a good sign! Gonna be taking money off the table too (once target profits are hit).
bernardtayet
2021-08-17
bernardtayet
Good to follow up
sickeninglim
2021-08-17
sickeninglim
Wow......
HENRYCSC
2021-08-17
HENRYCSC
Ok
RIC
2021-08-17
RIC
good
KYHBKO
2021-08-17
KYHBKO
some regard such moves as defensive ... sitting on over $144 Billion worth of cash ... to swoop in when the prices turned into fair value in anticipation of market correction or more. happy investing all.