Warren Buffett did some weird things with his Apple stock | Real Time Headlines

Coincidence or overall plan? Warren Buffett now owns the exact same number of shares apple as he did Coca Cola After cutting tech stocks in half.

Many Buffett followers made a strange observation after the regulator’s “13-F” filing was revealed Wednesday night Berkshire HathawayHoldings at the end of the second quarter. It shows that Apple and Coca-Cola have the same number of shares at 400 million shares, Buffett’s oldest and longest-held stock.

That’s prompted some to believe the “Oracle of Omaha” is no longer selling his stake in the iPhone maker.

“If Buffett liked round numbers, he probably wouldn’t plan to sell any additional Apple stock,” said David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “Just like Coca-Cola is Buffett’s Permanent’ holds the same, and so may Apple.”

The 93-year-old legendary investor first purchased 14,172,500 Coca-Cola shares in 1988 and over the next few years grew his holdings to 100 million shares in 1994. Stock volume has basically remained at the same stable level.

Due to two rounds of 2-for-1 stock splits in 2006 and 2012, Berkshire’s Coca-Cola holdings became 400 million shares.

Buffett said he discovered the iconic soft drink when he was 6 years old. In 1936, Buffett began buying six bottles of Coke at a time from his family’s grocery store for 25 cents each and selling them around the neighborhood for 5 cents. Buffett said it was then that he realized “the product’s extraordinary consumer appeal and commercial possibilities.”

Cut Apple stake

Investing in technology giants such as Apple may seem to go against Buffett’s long-standing principles of value investing, but the famous investor views them as consumer products companies such as Coca-Cola, rather than technology investments.

Buffett touted the iPhone’s loyal customer base and said people would give up their cars before they gave up their smartphones. He even called Apple the second most important business after Berkshire’s insurance cluster.

So when news of the Berkshire sell-off was revealed, some people were shocked Owns more than 49% of the iPhone maker in season two.

Many suspect this is part of portfolio management or a larger overall market view rather than a judgment on Apple’s future prospects. The sale reduces Apple’s weight in Berkshire’s portfolio to about 30%, down from nearly 50% at the end of last year.

With that number confirmed, it appears to be Buffett’s favored position among the stocks he values ​​most and has held the longest.

Still, some say it could just be a pure coincidence.

“I don’t think Buffett thinks that,” said Bill Stone, chief investment officer of Glenview Trust and a shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway.

But at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in May, Buffett did compare the two and mentioned that both have unlimited holding periods.

“We own Coca-Cola, which is a great business,” Buffett said. “We have Apple, which is a better business, and we will have Apple, American Express and Coca-Cola unless something truly extraordinary happens.”