Buffett restarts Apple sell-off in Q2, further reduces stake in Bank of America, new investments in UnitedHealth, Nucor Steel, and other "mysterious" holdings revealed

The position document shows that after half a year, "stock god" Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has begun to sell its largest holding, Apple, and continues to reduce its stake in another major holding, Bank of America.

At the same time, Berkshire made a significant investment in the health insurance giant UnitedHealth in the second quarter, purchasing stocks worth nearly $1.6 billion at the end of the quarter, and revealed its recently highly anticipated "mysterious" holdings—Nucor and two real estate stocks.

"Mysterious" Holding Nucor Valued at Over $800 Million, Lennar and D.R. Horton are Both Real Estate Stocks

In May of this year, when Berkshire disclosed its first-quarter holdings, there was a request for confidentiality regarding certain positions, and the "mysterious" holdings have been a subject of speculation since then. Wallstreetcn previously mentioned that based on clues from the financial reports of the first two quarters of this year, media speculated that Berkshire might have invested in an industrial company, with a total investment amount close to $5 billion.

This Thursday, these "mysterious" holdings were revealed. The 13F document shows that in the second quarter, Berkshire had three individual stock holdings that were not disclosed in the first-quarter 13-F report submitted in May: the largest steel producer in the U.S., Nucor, and U.S. residential developers Lennar and one of the largest real estate developers in the U.S., D.R. Horton.

Among them, Berkshire purchased 6.61 million shares of Nucor (NUE), with a market value of $857 million at the end of the quarter, accounting for 0.33% of its holdings, ranking 25th in size.

The real estate stock Lennar (LEN) was bought by Berkshire with approximately 7.05 million shares, with a market value of about $780 million at the end of the quarter, accounting for 0.3% of its holdings, ranking 26th.

Berkshire purchased over 1.48 million shares of D.R. Horton (DHI), with a market value of about $191 million at the end of the quarter, accounting for 0.07%.

Reduced Holdings in Apple Again After Half a Year, Bank of America Holdings Down Over 40% in a Year, Cleared T-Mobile

According to the 13F document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosed on Thursday, August 14, Berkshire reduced its holdings in Apple (AAPL) by 20 million shares in the second quarter, a decrease of 6.67% compared to the first quarter. The proportion of Apple in its holdings fell from 25.76% in the first quarter to 22.31%, with a decrease in market value of $4.1 billion.

This is the first time in half a year that Berkshire has disclosed a reduction in its Apple holdings. In the second and third quarters of last year, Berkshire significantly reduced its Apple holdings by 50% and 25%, respectively. Subsequently, in the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, Berkshire's Apple holdings remained unchanged.

In terms of both the proportion of holdings and the change in market value, Apple is the stock that Berkshire reduced the most in the second quarter. Nevertheless, by the end of the second quarter, Berkshire still held approximately 280 million shares of Apple, making it still the largest holding In the second quarter, another stock that Berkshire Hathaway significantly reduced its holdings in was Bank of America (BAC), selling approximately 26.31 million shares, a quarter-over-quarter decrease of 4.71%. The market value of the holdings decreased by $1.24 billion, but the proportion of holdings slightly increased from 10.19% in the first quarter to 11.12%, still making it the third-largest position.

Over the past year, Berkshire has cumulatively reduced its stake in Bank of America by more than 40%. By the second quarter of this year, Berkshire's holdings in Bank of America had decreased from 1.03 billion shares in mid-last year to 605 million shares, a decline of nearly 41.3%.

In the second quarter, Berkshire completely exited its position in 3.88 million shares of T-Mobile (TMUS), reducing its holding proportion from 0.4% in the first quarter to zero. This telecom giant was the second-largest change in Berkshire's holdings after Apple in the second quarter.

New Investment in UnitedHealth Valued at Nearly $1.6 Billion, After-Hours Stock Price Rose Over 9%

According to the 13F filing, the largest stock purchase by Berkshire in the second quarter was UnitedHealth (UNH), with approximately 5.04 million shares newly acquired, bringing the market value to about $1.57 billion at the end of the quarter, making it Berkshire's 18th largest holding, accounting for 0.61% of total holdings.

After the disclosure of Berkshire's holdings, UnitedHealth's stock price surged in after-hours trading on Thursday, rising over 9% at one point.

Considering that Berkshire's stock investment portfolio is valued at about $300 billion, the media speculates that the investment in UnitedHealth may not be Buffett's doing, but rather the work of his two investment deputies, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.

In the second quarter, Berkshire also initiated a position in outdoor advertising company Lamar Advertising Company (LAMR), purchasing 1.17 million shares, with a holding proportion of 0.06% and a market value of approximately $140 million at the end of the quarter.

Among the Top Ten Holdings, Only Chevron Increased in the Second Quarter

Among Berkshire's top ten holdings, Chevron (CVX) was the only stock to see an increase in the second quarter, with Berkshire adding 3.45 million shares, increasing the market value of the holdings by $495 million. However, in the second quarter, during which stock prices fell, Chevron's holding proportion decreased from 7.69% in the first quarter to 6.79%.

By the end of the second quarter, based on market value, Berkshire's top ten holdings remained the same "familiar faces" as in the first quarter, with most rankings unchanged. They are:

• Apple (AAPL)
• American Express (AXP)
• Bank of America (BAC), rising from fourth to third place.
• Coca-Cola (KO), falling from third to fourth place.
• Chevron (CVX)
• Moody's (MCO), rising from seventh to sixth place.
• Occidental Petroleum (OXY), falling from sixth to seventh place.
• Kraft Heinz (KHC)
• Chubb (CB)
• Dialysis service provider DaVita (DVA)