Warren Buffett's Successor Greg Abel Spent $4.5 Billion Buying 1 Stock Last Quarter, and He Spent At Least $3.3 Billion Buying More This Quarter

One of the biggest questions Greg Abel faced after he took over for Warren Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) at the start of 2026 was how he would manage the company's massive equity portfolio.

Unlike Buffett, Abel doesn't have a significant background in capital allocation decisions. Abel is known as a strong operations manager, which makes him well-suited for overseeing Berkshire's dozens of owned-and-operated businesses.

But with an equity portfolio value of about $360 billion and roughly equal amounts of investable cash and Treasuries, as of this writing, the liquid portfolio accounts for far more of Berkshire's value than its own operations do. That's why many investors have been watching what Abel will do with the company's portfolio.

Last quarter, Abel made some big moves, including purchasing about $4.5 billion of a single stock. And the company's quarterly filing revealed that he's buying billions more this quarter. Here's what investors need to know.

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Abel broke two long streaks at Berkshire Hathaway

As Warren Buffett wound down his tenure as CEO, he had created a couple of notable streaks in Berkshire's capital allocation.

The first streak was that he was a net seller of stocks for 13 straight quarters. Abel continued that streak in the first quarter, unless you count the $9.7 billion acquisition of OxyChem as a stock purchase. Total net stock sales in the 14 quarters added up to $194.8 billion.

Abel ended that streak last quarter. He bought a total of $23.5 billion worth of equities while selling just $3.7 billion. The biggest of those stock purchases, by far, was Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL).

Buffett initiated the Alphabet position in the third quarter of 2025 and noted that he approves of Abel's decision to make it one of Berkshire's largest positions. That includes a $10 billion private placement Abel took in June, in addition to purchasing the stock in the public market.

Alphabet is currently Berkshire's third-largest position, and Abel may be buying more of the stock while the price trades below the level at which he took the private placement. Investors will have to wait for public disclosures to find out for sure.

It's another stock Abel bought in the second quarter that we know for certain he bought more of since the end of June. And that relates to the other notable streak Buffett started. After buying back Berkshire shares for 24 straight quarters, Buffett stopped repurchasing the stock in the third quarter of 2024. That began a streak of six straight quarters without a buyback.

Abel ended that streak in his first quarter as CEO, buying back a few hundred million in shares. He made a massive step-up in buybacks last quarter, with repurchases totaling $4.5 billion. And he's not done yet.

Berkshire's quarterly report shows that the number of shares outstanding fell by about 0.32% from the end of June to the end of July. With a market capitalization hovering above $1.05 trillion, Abel spent more than $3.3 billion buying additional shares of Berkshire Hathaway in July alone. And he could buy more.

Should investors follow Abel?

Warren Buffett has generally advised Berkshire Hathaway shareholders to buy the stock whenever management buys back shares. It's a very simple indicator for investors to follow, and it's trustworthy due to Buffett's stance on share repurchases. He reiterated, on multiple occasions, that all share repurchases must be price-dependent. Management should buy back stock only when it trades below its intrinsic value.

The board updated its repurchase authorization to reflect that stance in 2018, and it remains in place today. Abel is only allowed to repurchase shares when he and Buffett determine that the price is below the conservatively determined intrinsic value. As such, investors can safely assume management believes the stock was undervalued in July. Unfortunately, the stock has traded higher in August and at the start of September.

Nonetheless, the stock looks fairly valued. Its price-to-book ratio is around 1.45, which may be somewhat inflated, given we're just a few weeks away from the end of the third quarter. That's historically a good price to pay for the stock.

Furthermore, Berkshire stock has mostly traded sideways in 2026 while the market has piled into insurance stocks and railroad stocks (two of Berkshire's biggest operations), and its marketable equity portfolio has increased in value. That's despite strong operating results for the insurance underwriting business and improvements in railroad profitability in the first six months of the year. The stock performance may reflect investor sentiment regarding Abel's capabilities as an asset allocator.

While investors shouldn't expect the massive returns Buffett generated from equities over his lifetime, Abel appears capable of deploying capital strategically in new equity investments and returns to shareholders. After the market digests the regime change, the stock should be able to move higher.

Adam Levy has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.