Tech stocks averse Warren Buffett’s big bet on Apple has paid off as the iPhone makers’ brief $3 trillion milestone raked in over $120 billion for the Oracle of Omaha.
Berkshire Hathaway’s 5 percent stake in Apple, bought for $36 billion in 2016, is now worth $160 billion after the stock high, CNBC reported. Further, the average annual dividend from Apple is around $775 million, it added.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
Known to be averse to investing in technology stocks, Buffett’s out-of-the-way investment in Apple has worked rather well. James Shanahan, Berkshire analyst at Edward Jones, called it “one of the strongest investments that Berkshire has made in the last decade”.
Earlier in February, Buffett told CNBC he considered Apple “as our third business and don’t think of it as a stock”.
The 5 percent stake also comprises over 40 percent of Berkshire Hathaway’s equity portfolio, as per InsiderScore.com calculations. Berkshire is now Apple’s largest shareholder besides index and exchange-traded fund providers, it said.
Notably, while Berkshire has been trimming stock to gain $11 billion in 2020, Apple’s repurchase programs– which reduced outstanding shares – increased the conglomerate’s overall stake in the tech giant. Berkshire’s 2020 annual report in fact called this increase “costless”.
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