After overseeing a major housecleaning of Berkshire Hathaway‘s (BRK.B) equity portfolio in his first three months as CEO, Greg Abel followed up with a sizable shift in capital deployment during Q2.
Although Berkshire was a net buyer of equities for the first time after 14 straight quarters of easing up on stocks, the company revealed no flashy new positions or big additions in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on August 14.
True, in June, Berkshire purchased another $10 billion worth of stock in Google parent Alphabet in a private placement. The deal, disclosed in the company’s quarterly report, boosted its holdings of Class A shares (GOOGL) by 45% and Class B shares (GOOG) by more than 650%.
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At 9.4% of Berkshire’s U.S. equity portfolio value, GOOGL is now the company’s fourth-largest position. The Class B shares, at 3.2% of the portfolio, are now the firm’s 10th-largest holding. Berkshire initiated its stake in the tech giant in the third quarter of 2025.
Separately, Berkshire closed its $6.8 billion acquisition of the U.S. homebuilder Taylor Morrison in July.
Abel oversees the Berkshire Hathaway equity portfolio, although Buffett keeps his hand in and plays a key advisory role. That said, times have changed.
The company added one new stock to its holdings in Q2 — D.R. Horton (DHI) — but then it has bought and sold the homebuilder several times in the past. And while Berkshire boosted stakes in some existing positions, both new and old, it also continued to pare back on some legacy holdings.
Interestingly, Berkshire cut back on some investments in the financial sector, including long-time Buffett favorite Bank of America (BAC).
But before we get to the stocks Berkshire Hathaway bought and sold in the second quarter, let’s take a look at the bigger capital picture. In addition to being a net buyer of stocks for the first time in more than two years — the conglomerate made $19.8 billion in purchases vs $3.7 billion in sales — it also repurchased $4.5 billion of its own stock. That’s Berkshire’s largest quarterly buyback since 2021. Furthermore, it bought back another $3.3 billion in July.
Some folks have criticized Berkshire for not putting its cash hoard to work. Well, Abel appears to have answered them. Berkshire’s cash holdings are still gargantuan, but they did fall to $365 billion in the second quarter from a record $380 billion at the end of Q1.
With a market cap of $1 trillion, Berkshire still maintains a sort of barbell portfolio of approximately $325 billion in stocks and the aforementioned $365 billion in cash.
Before we get into Berkshire’s most recent buys and sells, it’s important to know that Berkshire has always run a highly concentrated portfolio.
Excluding the company’s Japanese brokerage stocks and other overseas equities, Apple (AAPL) alone accounts for more than a fifth of Berkshire’s stock portfolio. (That’s down from more than 40% at its peak.)
Furthermore, Berkshire’s top five U.S. equity holdings comprise about 68% of its portfolio value, while the top 10 account for 88%.
As Buffett likes to say, diversification is for those who don’t know what they’re doing.
Stocks that Berkshire is buying
Buffett famously avoided airlines for decades. When he finally did come around, his timing was terrible, spreading his bets among a handful of major carriers not too long before COVID-19 set the industry into a tailspin. As a result, he quickly closed out those positions.
So it’s a mark of change that Berkshire upped its stake in Delta Air Lines (DAL) by 44% in Q2 after initiating the position just three months earlier. The company bought another 17.5 million shares, bringing its total holdings to more than 57 million. With a market value of $5.4 billion at the end of Q2, the air carrier is now Berkshire’s 13th-largest holding.
(Image credit: Patrick van Katwijk / Contributor)
In another move in the homebuilder industry, Berkshire increased its positions in Lennar Class A (LEN) and Class B (LEN.B) stock, by 30% and 25%, respectively. At 0.4%, LEN is the company’s 18th-largest investment. LEN.B, at less than 0.1%, is essentially immaterial.
Meanwhile, Berkshire added to two recent additions to its investments. It boosted its stake in The New York Times Co. (NYT) by almost 4%, while more than doubling its position in Macy’s (M). NYT accounts for about 0.4% of the portfolio, while M sits at less than 0.1%. Although it’s nice to have the imprimatur of Berkshire Hathaway, these are not needle-moving investments for a trillion-dollar company.
Stocks Berkshire is selling
In a reprise from previous quarters, Berkshire once again sold some Bank of America stock, which has been a major holding since 2017. It’s too soon to panic, though. Berkshire reduced its investment in the nation’s second-largest bank by assets by less than 6%. BAC is still a top-five holding, although GOOGL did replace it at No. 4.
Elsewhere, Abel pared back on supermarket operator Kroger (KR), reducing the position by 22%. At 0.7% of the portfolio value, KR drops to Berkshire’s 16th-largest holding from 12th at the end of Q1.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
In the financial sector, Berkshire eased up on investments in Ally Financial (ALLY) by almost 7%, while slicing its position in Capital One Financial (COF) by 58%. ALLY accounts for just 0.4% of Berkshire’s U.S. equity portfolio, while COF amounts to 0.2%.
Lastly, Berkshire reduced exposure to Nucor (NUE) by 52%. NUE now accounts for about 0.1% of the portfolio, or the firm’s 24th-largest position. In the only exit, Berkshire sold its entire stake in Constellation Brands (STZ), a position it initiated in the final quarter of 2024. At less than 0.1% of the portfolio prior to the liquidation, STZ was immaterial.
The bottom line on Berkshire’s holdings
Abel continues to remake Berkshire’s portfolio, and the way it deploys capital, in his own image. Big bets on tech are in favor, and he’s doubling down on some recent investments, such as Macy’s and The New York Times Co. Berkshire also clearly likes exposure to homebuilders.
At the same time, Abel is reducing exposure to several legacy investments and less material names. While the portfolio remains top-heavy, its concentration is now weighted more to its largest 10 holdings, with less exposure to the top five.
It’s a new era, indeed.
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