Warren Buffett's Apple Bet Is Still Berkshire Hathaway's Biggest Stock Holding at 22% of the Portfolio
Key Points
Berkshire still holds 227.9 million Apple shares, its largest position, after cutting the stake by about 75%.
Buffett has long admired Apple’s loyal customer base and has said he would buy more at the right price.
Trimming Apple is a case study in keeping a portfolio from leaning too hard on one stock.
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Warren Buffett spent the final years of his run as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) selling Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock. Even though the conglomerate sold off hundreds of millions of shares, Berkshire still owns more Apple stock than any other holding.
At the end of June -- the period covered by the company's latest regulatory filing -- Berkshire held 227.9 million Apple shares worth about $66 billion, roughly 22% of the company's total investment portfolio. That's a long way from the roughly half of the portfolio Apple once made up.
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However, I think the current stake says more about the confidence that Buffett -- and new CEO Greg Abel -- have in Apple than the selling does.
Former Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. Image source: Getty Images.
Why Buffett fell for Apple
Buffett has long treated Apple less as a tech company and more as a consumer products business whose customers rarely leave. That loyalty shows up in the numbers. In the fiscal third quarter (ended June 27), Apple reported record revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16%, and said its installed base of active devices reached an all-time high across every major product category. Services, which include the App Store and subscriptions, generated $30.7 billion in revenue at a gross margin of about 76%.
Buffett hasn't soured on the company, either. In a March CNBC interview, he said he sold it too soon and would buy a lot more at the right price.
Trimming is how you stay diversified
Berkshire Hathaway cut its stake from about 915 million shares in mid-2023 to 227.9 million, a reduction of roughly 75%. Buffett was clear about why. He was happy to have Apple as the largest holding, but not for it to be "as large as almost everything else combined."
That's basic portfolio discipline. Even a great business becomes a problem when it's too big a share of what you own, because one rough stretch for a single stock can drag down everything else. A diversified portfolio doesn't depend on any one company being right.
Berkshire has put some of that money to work elsewhere. In the second quarter, the company bought about $17 billion of stock in Alphabet, including $10 billion directly from the company. And Berkshire hasn't sold any Apple shares since the end of 2025, which suggests the position is about where it wants it.
What to watch now
Apple isn't risk-free. At 22%, it's still Berkshire's biggest holding, so a stumble would hurt. Apple guided for revenue growth of 9% to 11% in the September quarter, slower than the 16% in June. And Buffett said he'd add more only at a lower price, while the stock is near a record.
Apple reports on Nov. 2, its first call under new CEO John Ternus. Berkshire's next 13F is due by Nov. 16 and will show whether it changed its Apple stake in the September quarter. If not, that's another quarter of Berkshire holding its largest stock.
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Patrick Sanders has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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