Buffett bought more from Apple last quarter, and says he would have added more if the stock didn’t bounce

Warren Buffett bought the dip in his first stock apple During the tech giant’s sales in the first quarter.

The Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway told CNBC Becky Kwik He acquired $600 million in Apple stock after a three-day decline in the stock last quarter. Apple is the largest single shareholder with $159.1 billion at the end of March, taking about 40% of its stock portfolio.

“Unfortunately, the stock went back up, so it stopped. Otherwise, who knows how much we would have bought?” The 91-year-old investor told Kwik Sunday after Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting.

There have been plenty of buying opportunities for Buffett this year as Apple shares come under pressure amid fears of higher interest rates and supply chain constraints. The stock fell 1.7% in the first quarter with multiple three-day loss streaks throughout the period. Apple fell once for eight straight days in January and the stock fell nearly 10% in the second quarter.

Berkshire began buying Apple shares in 2016 under the influence of Buffett’s deputy investors, Todd Combs and Ted Wechsler. Berkshire is now Apple’s largest shareholder, apart from providers of exchange-traded funds and indexes.

Buffett previously He named Apple the four “giants” in his group The second in importance after the Berkshire insurance group, thanks to its CEO.

“Apple’s illustrious CEO Tim Cook quite aptly regards users of Apple products as his first love, but all of his other classes also benefit from Tim’s management touch,” Buffett’s 2021 annual report. mention the message.

The Oracle of Omaha said it admires Cook’s stock buyback strategy, and how it gives the giant conglomerate increased ownership of every dollar of the iPhone maker’s earnings without the investor having to lift a finger.

Apple said last week You allowed 90 billion dollars In share buybacks, maintaining its pace as the public company spends the most on buying its shares. It spent $88.3 billion on buybacks in 2021.

Cook was present at Berkshire’s annual meeting last weekend.

The group has also enjoyed regular profits from the tech giant over the years, averaging around $775 million annually.