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Warren Buffett's Berkshire loads up on Pfizer, other pharma stocks in Q3; exits Costco

Julia La Roche
·Former Correspondent
Updated ·2 min read

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) is loading up on drug stocks.

During the third quarter, the holding company revealed new stakes in big pharmaceutical names like AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, and Pfizer — one of the major companies pioneering a COVID-19 vaccine.

According to a 13-F regulatory filing, Berkshire snapped up approximately 21.2 million shares of AbbVie (ABBV), a stake valued near $2.09 billion based on Monday’s closing price. Berkshire also purchased 29.9 million shares of Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), 22.4 million shares of Merck (MRK), and 3.7 million Pfizer (PFE) shares during the quarter, the filing shows.

Separately, the company boosted its stakes in Bank of America (BAC), General Motors (GM), and Kroger (KR). Berkshire added 3.7 million shares to its Bank of America position, to last hold 1.03 billion shares, a stake valued at $28.48 billion, the second-largest stock position in the portfolio.

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Berkshire also purchased shares of Snowflake (SNOW) during the quarter in a private placement. At the quarter’s end, Berkshire held nearly 6.13 million shares, a position valued at around $1.48 billion based on Monday’s closing share price.

During the quarter, Berkshire Hathaway exited its position in Costco (COST) — selling its remaining 4.3 million shares during the period, while trimming its positions in Wells Fargo (WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), PNC Financial Services, and M&T Bank. Berkshire slashed its Wells Fargo stake by nearly 46%, selling 110.2 million shares, to last hold 127.38 million shares.

Berkshire also trimmed its position in Barrick Gold to last hold 12 million shares as of Sept. 30. Berkshire Hathaway snapped up approximately 20.9 million shares of Barrick Gold (GOLD) in the second quarter.


Julia La Roche is a correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.

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