Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A; BRK.B) took stakes in Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) and swimming pool supplier Pool Corp. (POOL) in the third quarter while continuing to trim stakes in longtime holdings Apple (AAPL) and Bank of America (BAC).
The moves were part of a series of shareholding adjustments—disclosed in regulatory documents filed late Thursday—that show Buffett continues to be a net seller of stocks as he builds Berkshire’s already-enormous cash holdings. The conglomerate announced earlier this month that its cash pile ballooned to a record $320.3 billion from $271.5 billion in the second quarter, with the vast majority of the total ($288 billion) invested in short-term Treasury bills.
The filing Thursday confirmed that Buffett sold exactly one-quarter of his enormous stake in Apple. The sale was suggested by Berkshire’s third-quarter earnings report earlier this month, but had yet to be officially disclosed to the public. Berkshire has steadily pared its stake in the iPhone maker, reducing it from nearly $175 billion at the start of the year to about $70 billion at the end of September. Still, Apple accounts for about a quarter of Berkshire’s $266 billion equity portfolio.
Berkshire, as expected, sold about 235 million shares of Bank of America. Berkshire, as a more than 10% owner of the lender, was obliged to report its offloading of BofA stock throughout the quarter.
Berkshire acquired nearly 1.3 million Domino’s Pizza shares worth nearly $550 million at the end of the quarter. The firm also added a 404,000-share stake, worth $152 million, in Pool Corp. to its portfolio. Shares of both Domino’s and Pool jumped in extended trading on Thursday after the investments were made public.
Buffett sold the remainder of Berkshire’s position in Floor & Decor Holdings (FND) last quarter after shrinking it in the prior quarter.
Buffett slashed his stake in cosmetics chain Ulta Beauty (ULTA), selling more than 95% of his holdings after entering the position in the second quarter.
He also shrank stakes in Capital One Financial (COF), Charter Communications (CHTR), and fintech firm Nu Holdings (NU).
Aerospace firm Heico Corp. (HEI) was the only existing position that Buffett added to during the quarter, buying 5,445 shares to bring his stake to about 1.05 million shares worth over $200 million.
