Berkshire Hathaway slashed its big stake in Apple by nearly 50% in the second quarter to about 400 million shares from 789 million shares in the first quarter, according to information in the company's 10-Q report released Saturday.
Berkshire now holds about 2.6% of Apple and the stake was worth about $88 billion based on Friday's close of $219.86.
The reduction in the Apple stake wasn't a surprise but the size of the cut was unexpected. Some Berkshire watchers had anticipated the decline because CEO Warren Buffett often continues to reduce a large equity stake once he begins cutting it. A drop of 100 million shares or so had been anticipated.
Buffett may feel that Apple is fully priced at recent levels and that the holding, which was more than 40% of Berkshire's stock portfolio, had become too large. Berkshire is sitting on a large profit in the stock given that its cost basis is around $34 a share. Berkshire accumulated the stock largely between 2016 and 2018.
Berkshire had held 905 million shares of the iPhone maker at year-end 2023.