Warren Buffett’s mystery investments are Verizon and Chevron

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Berkshire Hathaway by Warren Buffett

has significant interests in it

Chevron

and

Verizon Communications

at the end of 2020, after they were previously prohibited from holding those shares public.

Berkshire (ticker: BRK.B) owned 146.7 million shares of Verizon (VZ) worth $ 8.6 billion at the end of 2020 and 48.5 million shares of Chevron (CVX) worth $ 4.1 billion, according to a legal application on Tuesday.

Verizon’s stake has risen sharply from the end of the third quarter, when Berkshire owned 58.4 million Verizon shares worth $ 3.4 billion. The stake in Chevron increased more modestly in the fourth quarter, from 44.3 million at the end of the third quarter. These were disclosed in a 13-F filing for the end of the third quarter and an amended 13-F for the end of the third quarter.

The Verizon and Chevron purchases were likely orchestrated by Buffett, the CEO, who oversees the company’s massive stock portfolio.

Berkshire requested and received confidentiality from the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the shares of Chevron and Verizon at the end of the third quarter, presumably because it continued to build up positions in those shares during the fourth quarter and did not want a disclosure halfway through. -November to disrupt the accumulation of both stocks.

Berkshire also gained confidentiality for a stake of $ 386 million at the end of the third quarter

Marsh & McLennan

(MMC) which grew to $ 499 million at the end of the fourth quarter.

The revelations solve the mystery of the confidential Berkshire purchases that sparked speculation about what stocks Buffett was buying. Many investors assumed it was one stock, not two large purchases.

Barron’s wrote earlier on Tuesday that the mystery holding was likely a commercial or industrial company based on the Berkshire filings and Chevron was a possibility.

Chevron was up about 2% in non-business hours trading, to $ 95, on news from the Berkshire holding company – the stock ended Tuesday’s regular session at $ 93.13. Verizon was up nearly 3% after closing, to $ 55.70 after finishing at $ 54.15.

Both purchases fit Buffett’s value orientation. Verizon has a low valuation and is trading for about 10 times its estimated profit for 2021, returning 4.6%. It has lagged the S&P 500 in recent years and is down 7% in the past year, while the index is up 16%.

Chevron has rebounded from last spring’s lows when oil prices rebounded but is still down 17% over the past year. The company is seen as the strongest of the global super-sized energy companies, with a better balance than rival

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) and major European rivals such as

Royal Dutch Shell

(RDS.A). Chevron’s dividend yield is 5.6%, and that payout is seen as increasingly certain with the rise in oil prices.

Berkshire also included its stake

Apple

(AAPL) to 887.2 million shares, according to Tuesday’s filing.

Write to Andrew Bary at [email protected]