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If any investor has stood the test of time, it’s Warren Buffett, and with good reason. For years, the “Oracle of Omaha” has had a rock star-like presence in the investing world, and his annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting draws thousands of loyal fans who are investors.

This week, it was announced that Berkshire Hathaway had reached the $1 trillion mark,  previously only accomplished by mega-cap technology stocks, many of which have been on a massive run over the last 18 months. While this is a stunning feat, it should be noted that Warren Buffet has a reported 25% of the portfolio in $277 billion of cash, of which $235 billion is said to be in Treasury bills. This seems like a clear sign he is worried.

Long-time investors and Buffett mavens are familiar with his quote, “His favorite holding for an S&P 500 stock is forever”, so it’s not surprising to report that for all of the success and stature Berkshire Hathaway has in the investment world, that 6 just top companies make up almost 72% of the funds’ total holdings. Here are those 6 companies.

Why are we covering this?

With a 15-year track record of covering Mr. Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway at 24/7 Wall St., we must keep our readers updated on the top news from the financial powerhouse. It should be noted that Berkshire Hathaway’s financial stocks had an excellent first half of the year, and the sector has lagged until this year.

American Express

This stock has been strong and pays a 1.09% dividend. American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) provides charge and credit payment card products and travel-related services worldwide.

The company operates through three segments:

• Global Consumer Services Group
• Global Commercial Services
• Global Merchant and Network Services

Its products and services include:

• Payment and financing products
• Network services
• Accounts payable expense management products and services
• Travel and lifestyle services

The company’s products and services also comprise:

• Merchant acquisition and processing
• Servicing and settlement
• Point-of-sale marketing
• Information products and services for merchants

Fraud prevention services and the design and operation of customer loyalty programs

Berkshire Hathaway owns 151,610,700 shares, which is 21.3 % of American Express’s float and 12.3% of the portfolio.

Apple

It’s almost hard to comprehend that the legacy technology giant still makes up 29% of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio despite selling over 500 million shares this year. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide.

The company offers:

• The iPhone, a line of smartphones
• Mac, a line of personal computers
• iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets
• Wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod

Apple also provides AppleCare support and cloud services and operates various platforms, including the App Store, which allows customers to discover and download applications and digital content such as books, music, videos, games, and podcasts.

In addition, the company offers various services, such as:

• Apple Arcade, a game subscription service
• Apple Fitness+, a personalized fitness service
• Apple Music, which gives users a curated listening experience with on-demand radio stations
• Apple News+, a subscription news and magazine service
• Apple TV+, which offers exclusive original content
• Apple Card, a co-branded credit card
• Apple Pay, a cashless payment service

Apple Investors are paid a modest 0.44% dividend.

Bank of America

The company posted solid second-quarter results and pays a solid 2.60% dividend. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is a ubiquitous presence in the United States, providing:

Various banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle market businesses, institutional investors, corporations, and governments in the United States and internationally operating 5,100 banking centers, 16,300 ATMs, call centers, and online and mobile banking platforms.

Bank of America has expanded into several new US markets, and its global scale ideally positions it to benefit from accelerating loan growth over the next two years. Moreover, unlike smaller peers, scale allows the bank to substantially increase investment over the next few years without notably jeopardizing returns, driving further market share gains.

Warren Buffett owns 903,800,376 shares after recently selling over 100,000 of them, which is 11.6% of the float and 11.3% of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio.

Chevron

This integrated giant is a safer way for investors looking to position themselves in the energy sector. It pays a rich 4.47% dividend. Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) engages in integrated energy and chemicals operations worldwide through its subsidiaries.

The company operates in two segments:

• Upstream
• Downstream

The Upstream segment is involved in the following:

• Exploration, development, production, and transportation of crude oil and natural gas
• Processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas
• Transportation of crude oil through pipelines
• Transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as operating a gas-to-liquids plant

The Downstream segment engages in:

• Refining crude oil into petroleum product
• Marketing crude oil, refined products, and lubricants
• Manufacturing and marketing renewable fuels
• Transporting crude oil and advanced products by pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment, and rail car
• Manufacturing and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses, and fuel and lubricant additives

Chevron announced last fall that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Hess in an all-stock transaction valued at $53 billion, or $171 per share based on Chevron’s closing price on October 20, 2023. Under the terms of the agreement, Hess shareholders will receive 1.0250 shares of Chevron for each Hess share. The transaction’s total enterprise value, including debt, is $60 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway owns 6.5% of Chevron’s outstanding stock with 118,610,534 shares, and the energy giant makes up 5.5% of the portfolio.

The Coca-Cola Company

This company remains a top Warren Buffet holding as he owns a massive 400 million shares, 9.3% of the float and 9% of the portfolio. The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage company, offering consumers more than 500 sparkling and still brands.

Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most valuable and recognizable brands, the Company’s portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands, including:

• Diet Coke
• Fanta
• Sprite
• Coca-Cola Zero
• Vitaminwater
• Powerade
• Minute Maid
• Simply
• Georgia
• Del Valle

Globally, they are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juice drinks.

Through the world’s most extensive beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the company’s beverages at a rate of more than 1.9 billion servings a day.

It’s also important to remember that the company owns almost 20%  of Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST), which continues to deliver big numbers.

Investors are paid a very dependable 2.70% dividend.

Occidental Petroleum

Over the last two years, Berkshire Hathaway has been buying the shares in a big way. The shares now amount to a massive 255,281,524 shares, which is 28% of the company and 4.6% of the portfolio that pays a decent 1.37% dividend. Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), together with its subsidiaries, is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

It operates through three segments:

• Oil and Gas
• Chemical
• Midstream and Marketing

The company’s Oil and Gas segment explores, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas.

Its Chemical segment manufactures and markets basic chemicals, including:

• Chlorine
• Caustic soda
• Chlorinated organics
• Potassium chemicals
• Ethylene dichloride
• Chlorinated isocyanurates
• Sodium silicates, and calcium chloride
• Vinyls; comprising vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride, and ethylene

The Midstream and Marketing segment gathers, processes, transports, stores, purchases, and markets oil, condensate, NGLs, natural gas, carbon dioxide, and power. This segment also trades around its assets, including transportation and storage capacity, and invests in entities.

Mr. Buffett has loaded the boat on Occidental Petroleum, which pays Berkshire Hathaway a reported $897,455,953 in annual dividends. $218,255,953 from the common stock and $679,200,000 from Occidental preferred stock which yields 8%.

 

 

 

 

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