21 Stocks Warren Buffett Is Selling (And 1 He's Buying)

Warren Buffett was as negative as we've seen him during Q1 2020. Here are the many Berkshire Hathaway stock sells from its latest 13F, and its one purchase.

attends the 'Downsizing' special screening at Dundee Theater on December 15, 2017 in Omaha, United States.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), wasn't doing much buying during the first quarter, which ended just before the economic impact of the coronavirus really set in. But he sure did a lot of selling.

Buffett has dumped shares in 21 stocks since the start of the year. For the most part, the Oracle of Omaha has merely trimmed BRK.B's positions. Reducing risk and raising cash are certainly prudent moves when facing the unprecedented uncertainty that we are now. In a few cases, however, Buffett sold the great majority or entirety of Berkshire's positions in some of its biggest and best-known holdings.

On the other side of the ledger, Buffett made just one buy in the quarter, adding a modest amount to a well-known regional bank.

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 take that as a vote of confidence. On the other hand, if he pares his holdings in a stock, it can spark investors to rethink their own investments. The fact that Buffett was fearful rather than greedy as the market plunged in Q1 underscores how challenging it is to make investing decisions these days.

Here's the scorecard for what Berkshire Hathaway bought and sold during the three months ended March 31, 2020, based on the most recent 13F that the company filed on May 15. 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 data is as of May 15. Holdings data is as of Feb. 14. Sources: Berkshire Hathaway’s SEC Form 13F filed May 15, 2020, for the reporting period ended March 31, 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.