5 Stocks Warren Buffett Is Selling (And 2 New Stakes)

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), oversaw a relatively quiet third quarter of buying and selling stocks.

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), oversaw a relatively quiet third quarter of buying and selling stocks. Berkshire made a new investment in the retail sector, pumped up its exposure to the oil patch and pared off a sliver of Apple (AAPL), among other moves.

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.

Here's the scorecard for what Berkshire Hathaway bought and sold during the three months ended Sept. 30, based on the most recent 13F that the company filed on Nov. 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 data is as of Nov. 14. Holdings data is as of Sept. 30. Sources: Berkshire Hathaway’s SEC Form 13F filed Nov. 14, 2019, for the reporting period ended Sept. 30, 2019; 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.