Is Buffett selling Apple again? Berkshire's portfolio adjustment indicated a decline in stake

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway may have cut its huge stake in Apple in the third quarter, CNBC has suggested based on the investment firm's latest report. The 95-year-old "oracle of Omaha" may have decided that the iPhone maker's third-quarter stock rally was a good opportunity to lock in profits before retiring, the network speculated.

In its latest quarterly report, Berkshire said the book value of its investments in consumer stocks fell by $1.2 billion from the previous quarter. Apple dominates Berkshire's portfolio in this category, suggesting that the change in book value may be due to further selling of the company's shares, CNBC said. In the third quarter, Apple shares rose more than 24%, and this rally could provide Buffett with an attractive opportunity for profit taking, the channel noted.

In mid-October, Berkshire is scheduled to file a detailed Form 13F report with the SEC that will give investors a clear picture of the size of its stake in Apple. The document will disclose all stock positions as of September 30.

Berkshire roughly quadrupled its investment in Apple between 2018 and 2022, with Buffett's company paying about $36 billion for a 5 percent stake that was already worth more than $170 billion in early 2023. Buffett has admired the iPhone maker for years, calling it "probably the best business in the world" and one of the four pillars on which Berkshire Hathaway rests.

But in 2024, the legendary investor staged a sell-off that shocked the market: in the first three quarters, Berkshire cut its position in Apple by 67%, reducing its value from $174 billion to less than $70 billion. If Buffett and his team hadn't started selling, their stake in Apple today would be worth more than $240 billion - six times their original investment, Barron's notes.

Berkshire also reduced its stake in Apple in the second quarter of 2025. Nevertheless, at the end of June, the iPhone maker remained the largest asset in Berkshire's portfolio, occupying more than 22% of the portfolio - at that time the investment company owned 280 million shares worth $57 billion, recalls CNBC.

Apple's shares have grown by a third over the past three months and reached an all-time high in October amid renewed interest in the iPhone. According to FactSet, the consensus rating of the company's securities is now "above the market" (Overweight, corresponding to a recommendation to buy). The average target price of $272.3 per share calculated by the service assumes growth of quotations by 1.2% in the next 12 months.

Since Buffett announced to shareholders in May that he would retire at the end of 2025, Berkshire's market value has fallen 12%. The S&P 500 U.S. stock index has risen 20% over the same period, to record highs. Most analysts - four out of seven - recommend Hold (Hold) the investment company's securities, FactSet reported. The average target price for Berkshire Class B shares available to a wide range of investors is $512.5 - that's 8% higher than the current price. Class A shares are priced at $712,000 apiece.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor