Berkshire Hathaway Inc. made eight new investments in public companies and exited three others, including the once-favored Wells Fargo & Co., in the first quarter.
Berkshire's investment portfolio grew to $363.55 billion as of March 31, up from $330.95 billion at Dec. 31, 2021, according to the company's latest Form 13F.
New financial sector bets
The Warren Buffett-led conglomerate took new positions in several financial companies in the period, including Citigroup Inc., Ally Financial Inc. and property and casualty insurer Markel Corp..
Berkshire bought 420,293 shares of Markel, which were worth about $620.0 million at the end of the first quarter. Berkshire's initial investment in Citigroup was valued at $2.95 billion at the end of the period. It has a smaller stake in Ally Financial worth $390.0 million.
The conglomerate also entered Occidental Petroleum Corp. with the purchase of 136,373,000 shares valued at approximately $7.74 billion, which represented Berkshire's eighth-largest position as of the end of the quarter. Occidental's stock increased 96% over the course of the first quarter and was up 133.6% as of market close on May 16.
Adding shares in Chevron, Activision
Berkshire continued to build its holdings in Chevron Corp. by adding about 121 million shares in the first quarter, representing a 316.2% sequential increase.
The conglomerate also bolstered its position in Activision Blizzard Inc., adding 49,657,101 shares, reflecting a 338.8% increase. As of the end of the first quarter, that stake was worth $5.15 billion. Microsoft Corp. is set to acquire Activision in a deal worth approximately $69 billion, which was recently approved by Activision shareholders, but remains subject to the completion of regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.
Pharmaceutical, Wells Fargo exits
Berkshire had previously been shedding its holdings in AbbVie Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. but completely cut ties with both pharmaceutical companies as of the first quarter's end. Berkshire also cut its holdings in Royalty Pharma PLC by 82.7%.
The conglomerate nearly exited Verizon Communications Inc. entirely, slashing 99.1% of its stake. Berkshire's holdings in Verizon stood at about $70 million as of the end of the first quarter, down from approximately $8.25 billion at the end of 2021.
Once Warren Buffett's favorite financial bet, Wells Fargo can no longer be found among Berkshire's holdings. Berkshire finished its process of exiting the bank in the first quarter, having reduced its holdings to just $32.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021.
