Berkshire trims General Motors bet, ramps up Kroger stake
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[NEW YORK] Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. trimmed its investment in General Motors for the third quarter in a row and pulled back on its pharmaceutical bets, while boosting a stake in Kroger.
The conglomerate's GM investment was valued at US$3.55 billion at the end of June, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.
Berkshire's Kroger stake was up 21 per cent during the second quarter, while the firm trimmed its bets on pharmaceutical companies including AbbVie and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The filing no longer showed a stake in Biogen Inc.
Berkshire has held General Motors shares for more than nine years, then pulled back on the investment in recent quarters.
Mr Buffett's company cut its stake in the automaker about 10 per cent during the second quarter even as the stock gained nearly 3 per cent during the period. And the firm has dug even deeper into its Kroger bet in recent quarters after disclosing it last year.
The conglomerate also pared back some of its bets on pharmaceutical companies, many of which the company disclosed last year as the pandemic swept the US. But it isn't retreating entirely: Berkshire's quarterly filing disclosed one new investment, a holding in the firm that Merck & Co. spun off recently called Organon & Co.
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Berkshire had already owned shares of Merck, and held a roughly US$712 million stake in the firm at the end of the second quarter.
The company also took its recent bets in the insurance brokerages in different directions. Berkshire trimmed its Marsh McLennan holding nearly 21 per cent during the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Mr Buffett's firm boosted its Aon Plc stake 7.3 per cent. That broker recently canceled its planned US$30 billion takeover of rival Willis Towers Watson.
Berkshire, which was an overall net seller of stocks during the period, also pulled back on Axalta Coating Systems with Monday's filing no longer showing a stake in that company.
The conglomerate's Chevron Corp. holding was also down 2.3 per cent with Berkshire still holding a roughly US$2.42 billion stake in the firm at the end of the second quarter.
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