Neil Hughes
Investor Warren Buffett has taken advantage of Apple's lowest share price in years, as new filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveal Berkshire Hathaway now owns 9.81 million shares of the iPhone maker.
Shares of AAPL were up nearly 2 percent in premarket trading on Monday after investors learned of Buffett's new stake. The shares, purchased as of March 31, are valued at about $1.07 billion, as noted by The Wall Street Journal.
News of Buffett's buy-in comes after activist investor Carl Icahn sold all of his shares in the company last month. Icahn said he still views Apple as a "great company," but concerns over the Chinese economy and government led him to sell off his shares.
And last week it was revealed that David Tepper's Appaloosa Management also sold its stake in Apple, dumping more than 1.26 million shares worth about $133 million.
Buffett's stake in Apple is noteworthy because Berkshire Hathaway has traditionally avoided technology stocks. Berkshare also boosted its position in IBM, quarterly SEC filings reveal.
Though Buffett didn't previously own shares in AAPL, he did weigh in on the company in 2013, saying he thought Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook should buy back more shares and build value. At the time, he compared buying back shares of Apple to purchasing a dollar valued at 80 cents.
Buffett also admitted at the time that Apple might carry "too much" cash. As of the end of last quarter, Apple had $233 billion, but 90 percent of it is held overseas.
Though Buffett bought in last quarter, shares of Apple reached their lowest levels in nearly two years last week, dipping briefly below $90. It's unknown how much the hedge fund manager owns as of today.
William Gallagher
Andrew Orr
Christine McKee
Thomas Sibilly
Andrew O'Hara
Amber Neely
Marko Zivkovic
67 Comments
If the Oracle of Omaha thinks Apple has a future then believe it.
Buffett generally takes a long-term view on business and his stock buys reflect that. For anyone to see Apple as a long-term risk is idiotic. The rest of Wall Street simply manipulates Apple stock in order to make short terms gains, because so many investors today can't think beyond the next reporting, or in some cases what they perceive to be issues on a day to day basis.
This is interesting as Buffett has said in the past he's not interested in investing in technology (other than IBM stake).
To AppleInsider staff: Please note that it is highly likely that Warren Buffett had nothing to do with the investment decision to buy AAPL. He may have, but the total amount of the purchase is small enough to warrant that either Todd or Ted (one of the managers who Warren hired a few years ago to replace him) were the likely buyers. This is a very important distinction.