Warren Buffet sells JPMorgan stake, takes new stake in Verizon

Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) announced on Tuesday that it acquired an $8.6 billion stake in Verizon Communications (VZ) and $4.1 billion worth of shares in Chevron Corp. (CVX), according to a regulatory filing with the Security and Exchange Commission.

Berkshire Hathaway also said it sold its stake at JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Barrick Gold (GOLD). The company also cut its stake in Apple (AAPL) by nearly 6%, although Apple remains its largest holding.

As of Tuesday, Berkshire Hathaway owns 147 million shares of Verizon stock. It also holds an $8.6 billion stake in Yahoo Finance, making it the 6th largest position in the firm’s portfolio.

Shares of Verizon fell 0.09% in regular trade on Tuesday but were up 2.66% in after-hours trade.

In its earnings report for the fourth quarter, Verizon Communications reported better-than-expected results for its earnings and outlook, with net income at $4.72 billion, or $1.11 per share. Its net income was down from $5.22 billion, or $1.23 from a year ago.

The move to sell the JPMorgan stake is significant to strengthen Berkshire’s partnership with Jamie Dimon-led bank and Amazon (AMZN) on Haven, a health insurance venture which was founded in 2018.

The firm has also cut its stake in Wells Fargo and sold all of its shares of COVID-19 maker Pfizer. However, Berkshire maintained its stake in Bank of America, Bank of New York, US Bancorp and American Express. It has also acquired a new stake in financial firm Marsh & McLennan.