Berkshire Hathaway trims Apple and HP, loads up on Sirius XM and Chevron

By Joy Wiltermuth

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway trimmed its holdings of Apple in the fourth quarter, while also selling out of a previous stake in home builder D.R. Horton, according to regulatory filings.

There's also at least one mystery investment that the company received Securities and Exchange Commission not to disclose, for a second straight quarter.

Berkshire loaded up on shares of Sirius XM Holding and Chevron in the fourth quarter, while selling out of a previous stake in home builder D.R. Horton, according to regulatory filings.

Omaha-based Berkshire (BRK.A) (BRK.B) cut its stake in the iPhone maker (AAPL) by around 10 million shares, or 1%, but still holds around 905 million, according to Whale Wisdom. The company also slashed its HP (HPQ) exposure by 79 million shares, leaving it with roughly 22.8 million shares.

Apple, which has been a Berkshire investment since 2016, has had a rough start to 2024, with the stock down 4% as the company missed expectations for China revenue in its latest quarter.

Berkshire increased its stake in satellite-radio company Sirius XM (SIRI) to about $220 million in the fourth quarter, from roughly $43.8 in the third quarter, according to a 13-F quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Berkshire also increased its multibillion-dollar stake in oil giant Chevron (CVX) to more than $18 billion, while selling off its roughly $640 million equity holdings in U.S. home builder D.R. Horton (DHI), among other moves detailed in the filing.

Despite crude-oil prices that have been in a slump for months, Chevron said it returned a record $36.3 billion in cash to its shareholders in 2023, split between dividends and share buybacks. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude (CL00) settled Wednesday at $76.64 a barrel, down from roughly $95 a barrel in September, according to FactSet data.

See: Chevron's stock rises as it returns record sum to shareholders, offsetting a big revenue miss

Home builders have been a bright spot in U.S. home-sales market that has been largely frozen since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in 2022, resulting in many homeowners being locked in place after having bought or refinanced at low 30-year mortgage rates during the pandemic.

Shares of the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF ITB are up 1.9% in the year so far, according to FactSet. Home builders often have financing arms that offer buyers lower introductory mortgage rates, which later reset higher, in a bid to sell more newly constructed homes.

For more 13-F reports:

. George Soros' fund bets on U.S. leisure travel, with fresh stakes in JetBlue, Spirit, Sun Country

. David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital adds Kenvue, ETFs and exits Southwestern Energy

. Druckenmiller dumps Alphabet, Amazon and Broadcom but Nvidia remains largest holding

. Appaloosa takes new stakes in Oracle and GM, raises stakes in Alibaba and Microsoft

. Nvidia discloses positions in SoundHound AI, Arm - and these other stocks

- Barbara Kollmeyer contributed to this story.

-Joy Wiltermuth

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02-15-24 0335ET

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