18 Stocks Warren Buffett Is Selling (And 6 He's Buying)

Berkshire Hathaway's chief kicked a number of stocks to the curb, lightened up on others, made a surprising new investment and even bet big on himself in Q2.

Warren Buffett
(Image credit: Getty Images)

After pretty much laying low in the first three months of the year, Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), made sweeping changes to its stock portfolio during the second quarter.

Most notably, he continued to sell off equities. After dumping shares in 19 positions during the first quarter, Warren Buffett fully exited seven positions and sold off parts of another 11 stakes. But he was a little more active on the buying side, too, adding to four positions and initiating a stake in a company that's well outside of his traditional wheelhouse.

The Oracle of Omaha has made a few other interesting moves of late, too. That includes finally putting Berkshire's massive cash pile to use in a $9.7 billion buyout of Dominion Energy's (D) midstream energy business – his biggest deal in years – and a big bet on himself.

Of course, we know what the greatest long-term investor of all time has been doing because the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires all investment managers with more than $100 million in assets to file a Form 13F quarterly to disclose any changes in share ownership. These filings add an important level of transparency to the stock market and give Buffett-ologists a chance to get a bead on what he's thinking.

When Buffett starts a new stake in some company, or adds to an existing one, investors read into that as a vote of confidence. But if he pares his holdings in a stock, it can spark investors to rethink their own investments. The fact that Berkshire Hathaway continued to shed weight even as the market began to rebound in Q2 underscores how challenging it is to make investing decisions these days.

Here's the scorecard for what Warren Buffett was buying and selling during the three months ended June 30, 2020, based on the most recent 13F that the company filed on Aug. 14. And remember: Not all "Warren Buffett stocks" are actually his picks. Some smaller positions are believed to be handled by lieutenants Ted Weschler and Todd Combs.

Disclaimer

Current price and holdings data is as of Aug. 14. Sources: Berkshire Hathaway's SEC Form 13F filed Aug. 14, 2020, for the reporting period ended June 30, 2020; and WhaleWisdom.

Dan Burrows
Senior Investing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the august publication full time in 2016.


A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among other publications. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a weekly video segment on equities.


Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.


In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, funds, macroeconomics, demographics, real estate, cost of living indexes and more.


Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.


Disclosure: Dan does not trade stocks or other securities. Rather, he dollar-cost averages into cheap funds and index funds and holds them forever in tax-advantaged accounts.