Warren Buffett played it safe again last quarter, with his firm selling more stock while beefing up its cash pile.
Berkshire Hathaway revealed in a 13F filing on Thursday that it trimmed several positions last quarter while the stock market was hit with the first wave of volatility related to tariffs, which drove the S&P 500 to a loss of nearly 5%.
Buffett’s firm now has $258 billion in assets under management, down from $267 billion at the end of 2024.
Its cash holdings, meanwhile, swelled to $350 billion at the end of March, up from $334 billion at the end of last year.
Here were the biggest takeaways from Berkshire’s latest 13F:
1. Buffett’s conglomerate didn’t add any new positions
Berkshire Hathaway didn’t add any new positions to its portfolio in the first three months of 2025.
At Berkshire’s recent annual shareholder meeting, Buffett said the firm got “pretty close” to spending $10 billion on a new deal, but ended up backing out. He also added that he would be happy to spend as much as $100 billion on a good opportunity, but only if it was offered at a good value and if Berkshire felt comfortable holding it long-term.
Berkshire began to dramatically increase its holdings of cash starting in 2024.
2. Berkshire trimmed its exposure to banks
Buffett’s firm lowered its exposure to various bank stocks.
The firm shed over $2 billion worth of Bank of America shares, marking its largest sale in the quarter.
Berkshire also trimmed its stake by 4% in Capital One Financial Corp, and sold $1 billion in Citigroup stock, completely exiting its position in the US banking giant.
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3. Buffett added exposure to Occidental, communications stocks
Berkshire snapped up more than 700,000 shares in Occidental Petroleum, bringing the value of its holdings of the energy company to $13 billion.
The company also boosted its holdings of VeriSign, an internet infrastructure company, by 3% to $3.7 billion, and its holdings of Sirius XM Holdings, a broadcasting corporation, by 35% to $2.7 billion.
Other stocks Berkshire added to the last quarter include Seagate Technology Holdings, Domino’s Pizza, and alcohol distributor Constellation Brands.
