Warren Buffett and Greg Abel Spent $78 Billion Buying This Stock Since 2018 -- That's More Than Was Spent Buying Apple, Chevron, Bank of America, and Occidental Petroleum, Combined!

On Dec. 31, Wall Street's premier buy-and-hold investor, Warren Buffett, hung up his work coat for the final time. Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRKA)(NYSE: BRKB) billionaire boss stepped down as CEO -- a title he'd held for more than half a century -- and passed the baton to Greg Abel.

During the Oracle of Omaha's tenure, Berkshire's Class A shares appreciated by nearly 6,100,000%, absolutely crushing the total return, including dividends, of the benchmark S&P 500. Buffett's knack for finding amazing deals hiding in plain sight, coupled with his candor at his company's annual shareholder meetings, made him especially popular with investors.

Warren Buffett retired as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO on Dec. 31. Image source: The Motley Fool.

But one of the more interesting quirks about Warren Buffett and his successor is that the stock they've spent the most capital buying ($78 billion in less than eight years) isn't something you'll find in Berkshire Hathaway's $307 billion investment portfolio. Nevertheless, it's a company near and dear to both.

Buffett and now Greg Abel have spent $78 billion buying this iconic stock in less than eight years

Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio is packed with a handful of core positions, including iPhone maker Apple, integrated oil and gas giants Chevron and Occidental Petroleum, and money-center titan Bank of America. Though these companies collectively made up over $123 billion of Berkshire's invested assets as of the closing bell on March 20, nowhere close to $78 billion was spent by the Oracle of Omaha to build these positions.

Whereas quarterly filed Form 13Fs won't clue investors into which stock was Buffett's favorite, Berkshire Hathaway's quarterly reports (and the occasional 8-K filing) will.

The mystery stock that Buffett and now Abel have favored above all else is none other than shares of Berkshire Hathaway.

Q2 FY24 was the lowest level of quarterly repurchase volume ($) for Berkshire Hathaway since the buyback program got started in 2018 pic.twitter.com/xz01BF2bZc

-- Alex Morris (TSOH Investment Research) (@TSOH_Investing) August 3, 2024

Prior to mid-July 2018, Buffett and now-late right-hand man Charlie Munger could green-light buybacks only if Berkshire's shares fell to or below 120% of its book value. Since it never fell to this threshold, not a penny was spent on buybacks.

On July 17, 2018, the board of directors amended the buyback rules to give Buffett more liberty to act. The new rules were simple: As long as Berkshire has at least $30 billion in combined cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities on its balance sheet, and Buffett believes shares are intrinsically cheap, repurchases can continue with no ceiling or end date.

For 24 consecutive quarters (July 2018 – June 2024), Buffett repurchased shares of his company's stock. Following a 21-month hiatus, an 8-K filed on March 5, 2026, announced that approximately $225 million was spent buying Class A shares (BRKA) under Greg Abel. Altogether, $78 billion has been spent buying back Berkshire's stock since mid-July 2018.

For a company with steady or growing net income (i.e., Berkshire Hathaway), buybacks can increase earnings per share and make it more fundamentally attractive to value-seeking investors. Berkshire's outstanding share count has declined by 12.6% since 2018.

More importantly, a steady diet of share repurchases incentivizes long-term investing, which is the type of ethos the now-retired Buffett hoped to build. Abel is continuing what Buffett began years ago, and shareholders are likely to reap the rewards.

Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Sean Williams has positions in Bank of America. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and Chevron and is short shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Occidental Petroleum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.