Investing

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Buys Taiwan Semiconductor, Adds to Occidental Petroleum Stake

Bret Kenwell

Published: November 16, 2022 9:21 pm

Unlike most funds, Berkshire Hathaway (US:BRK.A, US:BRK.B) is a public company, which means we get a good idea of what Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are buying and selling when the company reports earnings.

However, it also helps when the firm files its Form 13F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The report, which comes 45 days after the end of the quarter, shows what Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings were at the end of the most recent quarter.

The main takeaway? Berkshire was cutting back on financials and inching up its stakes in energy. It also had an interesting new play on tech.

Buffett Is a Buyer Of Energy and Seller of Some Bank Stocks

Buffett’s Berkshire did not shy away from buying energy in the most recent quarter. The firm has gotten a lot of exposure due to its massive position in Occidental Petroleum (US:OXY), a position that grew in Q3.

Berkshire upped its stake in Occidental to roughly 194.4 million shares, up from 158.6 million shares in the prior quarter. It also increased its stake in Chevron (US:CVX) by roughly 4 million shares to 165 million shares.

The firm was also paring down some of its bank stock positions, as it completely exited its stake in Bank of New York Mellon (US:BK) and pared down its position in U.S. Bancorp (US:USB) from 120 million shares down to 78 million shares as of the end of Q3.

However, due to a separate Form 13G filing, we know the stake is now even lower (at roughly 53 million shares).

Berkshire Hathaway’s New Positions & Sales

The firm made a few new purchases in the quarter, including 5.795 million shares of Louisiana-Pacific (US:LPX) and ~433,000 shares of Jefferies Financial (US:JEF). However, the most noteworthy purchase was roughly $4 billion worth of Taiwan Semiconductor (US:TSM).

The 60.06 million shares make the position a top-10 holding for Buffett & Co. based on its current portfolio of public companies.

On the flip side, Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stake in Activision Blizzard (US:ATVI) by roughly 12%, Kroger (US:KR) by 4% and General Motors (US:GM) by 5.5%.

Its position in Apple (US:AAPL) was unchanged, at 894.8 million shares.

This article originally appeared on Fintel