Warren Buffet trims Apple stake, invests in this beauty company
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has made significant changes to its stock portfolio. The company has invested in Ulta Beauty and Heico, while simultaneously reducing its stakes in Snowflake and Paramount Global. Additionally, it cut down its Apple stake by half last quarter. The latest strategic moves were disclosed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
Berkshire Hathaway acquires $266 million stake in Ulta Beauty
Berkshire Hathaway has acquired approximately 690,000 shares of Ulta Beauty, a leading cosmetics retailer. This investment represents a stake worth $266 million as of the end of June. The company also purchased about one million shares in Heico, an electronic equipment manufacturer. This acquisition equates to a position valued at $185 million at the quarter's close.
'Buffett effect' boosts Ulta Beauty and Heico shares
The new investments by Berkshire Hathaway have had a positive impact on the market performance of both Ulta Beauty and Heico. Following the announcement, Ulta's shares rose by up to 16% while Heico's shares saw a 4% increase in premarket trading on Thursday. This surge is attributed to other investors following suit, a phenomenon often referred to as the "Buffett effect."
Berkshire Hathaway ends stakes in Snowflake and Paramount
In addition to the new investments, Berkshire Hathaway also ended its stakes in cloud-computing specialist Snowflake and Paramount Global. These positions were valued at approximately $1 billion and $89 million respectively, as of March's end. Also, the company now holds 400 million Apple shares, mirroring its stake in Coca-Cola. This move was hinted at during its recent second-quarter earnings report which showed a decrease in the value of its largest portfolio holding from $135 billion to $84 billion previous quarter.
Stock sales and purchases in H1 2024
The sale of Apple shares constituted the majority of Berkshire Hathaway's $97 billion in stock sales during the first half of this year. During this period, it only bought stocks worth $4.3 billion. As of June end, Buffett's company had an unprecedented cash pile of $277 billion, including $235 billion in short-term treasuries - more than what the Federal Reserve holds in T-bills.
