Warren Buffett Dumps $3 Billion in Activision, Buys Into Home Co

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) sold off about $3 billion in Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) stock last quarter, representing more than two-thirds of its holdings as of just three months ago, as Warren Buffett's company also shook up its home construction, energy, materials, and healthcare holdings.1

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In its latest 13F filing, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced big changes to its video game, home construction, energy, materials, and healthcare holdings, among others.
• The firm sold off more than two-thirds of its position, or about $3 billion in shares, in Activision Blizzard.
• Berkshire entered new positions in three firms, all of which specialize in home construction. The largest of these was a $726-million new investment in D.R. Horton.
• Buffett made big trims to Chevron, Globe Life, GM, and Celanese, while boosting its stakes in Occidental Petroleum and Capital One.
• Berkshire exited three positions entirely: Vitesse Energy, McKesson, and Marsh & McLennan.

New Positions in Home Construction Firms

The Nebraska-based conglomerate reported in an SEC Form 13F filing that it entered three new positions in the quarter ended June 2023. The largest of these purchases was about 6 million shares of home construction company D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI), with a total value of more than $726 million. Shares of D.R. Horton jumped up close to 4% in after-hours trading Monday.21

 

Berkshire Hathaway also entered two smaller positions in other home construction companies last quarter: the firm bought about 153,000 Lennar Corp. (LEN) shares valued at $17 million and roughly 11,000 NVR Inc. (NVR) shares worth more than $70 million.1

 

Berkshire Hathaway Position Changes

Besides its major sale of Activision Blizzard stock, Berkshire Hathaway also made big adjustments to energy, materials, insurance, and other positions last quarter.

 

Warren Buffett sold off about 9.2 million shares of Chevron Corp. (CVX) as Berkshire's position dropped to roughly $19.4 billion from $21.6 billion in the first quarter. In the energy sector, Berkshire boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) by more than 12 million shares. However, the value of its OXY holdings declined by about $38 million compared to its value at the end of the first quarter.1

Other trims to the portfolio include selling close to 4 million shares of insurance firm Globe Life Inc. (GL), slashing Berkshire's position to roughly $275 million from about $700 million. Berkshire also cut its General Motors Co. (GM) holdings nearly in half, from 40 million shares to 22 million, and sold off 3.5 million shares of materials company Celanese Corp. (CE).1

 

The only other Berkshire Hathaway holding that got a boost last quarter was Capital One Financial Corp. (COF). Buffett's company bought an additional 2.5 million shares of the financial holding firm.1

 

Big Exits in Energy, Healthcare

Buffett exited three positions in the three months reflected in the most recent 13F filing. His company sold off 51,000 shares of Vitesse Energy Inc. (VTS) valued at under $1 billion. It also exited healthcare firm McKesson Corp. (MCK), selling roughly 2.3 million shares worth $815 million as of the last 13F. Berkshire also sold just over 400,000 shares of insurance company Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (MMC), exiting a position last valued at $67 million.

 

What Is an SEC Form 13F?

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Form 13F is a quarterly report that all institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in assets under management must file. It discloses their equity holdings and can provide insights into what the smart money is doing in the market. However, the SEC has acknowledged problems with the reliability of the information on 13F forms.