Warren Buffett’s mysterious investments are Verizon and Chevron

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway

revealed considerable stakes in

Chevron

and

Verizon Communications

at the end of 2020, after being previously allowed to keep those undisclosed stocks.

Berkshire (scorer: BRK.B) held $ 146.7 million of Verizon (VZ) shares worth $ 8.6 billion at the end of 2020 and 48.5 million shares of Chevron (CVX) worth 4, $ 1 billion, according to a document regulated on Tuesday.

The Verizon package has risen sharply since the end of the third quarter, when Berkshire held $ 58.4 million worth of Verizon shares worth $ 3.4 billion. Chevron stakes rose more modestly in the fourth quarter, from 44.3 million at the end of the third quarter. These were disclosed in a 13-F dossier for the end of the third quarter and an amended 13-F for the end of the third quarter.

The acquisitions of Verizon and Chevron were probably orchestrated by Buffett, the CEO, who oversees the company’s huge equity portfolio.

Berkshire requested and received confidentiality from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for Chevron and Verizon stakes at the end of the third quarter, probably because it continued to build positions in those shares in the fourth quarter and did not want public disclosure. in mid-November to disrupt its accumulation of both stocks.

Berkshire also gained confidentiality at the end of the third quarter for a $ 386 million holding.

Marsh and McLennan

(MMC) which rose to $ 499 million at the end of the fourth quarter.

The revelations solve the mystery of the confidential acquisitions in Berkshire that sparked speculation about the shares that Buffett was buying. Many investors have assumed that this is a single stock, not two major acquisitions.

Barron’s wrote earlier on Tuesday that the mystery is probably a commercial or industrial company based on Berkshire’s claims and that Chevron is a possibility.

Chevron rose about 2 percent in after-hours trading to $ 95 on Berkshire news – the stock ended Tuesday’s regular session at $ 93.13. Verizon was nearly 3% higher after hours, to $ 55.70, after reaching $ 54.15.

Both acquisitions are in line with Buffett’s value orientation. Verizon has a low valuation transaction for its estimated earnings in 2021 about 10 times and produces 4.6%. It has followed the S&P 500 in recent years and has fallen 7% in the last year, while the index has risen 16%.

Chevron lowered its lows last spring as oil prices recovered, but fell another 17 percent in the past year. The company is considered to be the strongest of the global super-major energy companies, with a better balance sheet than its rival

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) and the great European rivals as well

Royal Dutch Shell

(RDS.A). Chevron’s dividend yield is 5.6% and this payment is seen as increasingly secure as oil prices rise.

Berkshire has also lowered its stakes

Apple

(AAPL) to 887.2 million shares, as recorded on Tuesday.

Write to Andrew Bary at [email protected]