Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa), along with his associates Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, have been steadily increasing their investments in integrated energy company Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) and tech giant Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). The investment team has been purchasing Occidental shares since 2022, now owning over 224 million shares. They have also expanded their already considerable $162 billion stake in Apple, a company that controls more than half of the U.S. smartphone market.
Buffett, despite not being particularly tech-savvy, appreciates Apple's commitment to innovation and its transformation into a platform company under CEO Tim Cook. The company's shift toward subscription services is expected to stabilize revenue during iPhone replacement cycles and enhance customer loyalty. According to InvestingPro data, Apple's revenue in the last twelve months was a staggering 383.93 billion USD. The company has also seen a solid return on assets of 28.23% in the third quarter of 2023.
Notably, InvestingPro Tips highlight that Apple's management has been aggressively buying back shares and has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. This aligns with Buffett's strategy of investing in companies that pay dividends and are managed by solid teams. Buffett's investment in Apple is further supported by the fact that the company is a prominent player in the Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals industry and operates with a moderate level of debt.
Turning our attention to Occidental Petroleum, InvestingPro Tips indicate that the company has maintained dividend payments for 50 consecutive years and is expected to be profitable this year. The company's market cap is 57.66 billion USD, according to InvestingPro data, and it trades at a P/E ratio of 10.12. The company's stock generally trades with low price volatility, making it a relatively stable investment.
In addition to these investments, it is highly likely that Buffett and Charlie Munger have been buying Berkshire Hathaway shares in the third quarter and will continue to do so in the fourth quarter. This follows a 2018 amendment to the company's share repurchase program that allows buybacks if shares are considered undervalued and the company has at least $30 billion in cash and equivalents. Since this amendment, over $71 billion in buybacks have been approved in 20 out of 20 quarters, effectively increasing shareholders' ownership stakes. As of June 30, Berkshire Hathaway's cash pile was $147 billion, significantly surpassing the threshold for buybacks, which was previously set at 120% of book value.
Buffett's strategy of investing in brand-name companies that pay dividends and are managed by solid teams has led to a return of over 4,250,000% in Class A shares since the 1960s. Despite selling $33 billion worth of equities between October 2022 and June 2023, this strategy continues to reap benefits for Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett's investment activities can be tracked through mandatory quarterly 13F and Form 4 filings whenever Berkshire Hathaway has a stake of 10% or more in a public firm.
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