Mystery Investments by Warren Buffett is Verizon and Chevron

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway

has significant interests in

Chevron

and

Verizon Communications

at the end of 2020, having previously been allowed to keep these shares unknown.

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

Verizon’s stake has risen sharply since the end of the third quarter, when Berkshire owned 58.4 million Verizon shares worth $ 3.4 billion. The Chevron share rose modestly in the fourth quarter, from 44.3 million at the end of the third quarter. It was disclosed in a 13-F submission 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 likely organized by Buffett, the CEO, who oversees the company’s giant equity portfolio.

At the end of the third quarter, Berkshire requested confidentiality from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the Chevron and Verizon interests, presumably because it continued to build positions in those stocks in the fourth quarter and not in the middle of did not want the disclosure. -November to disrupt the accumulation of both shares.

At the end of the third quarter, Berkshire also acquired confidentiality for a $ 386 million stake

Marsh & McLennan

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

The revelations solve the mystery of the confidential Berkshire purchases that caused the speculation about the stock Buffett bought to subside. Many investors assumed it was one stock and not two large purchases.

Barron’s wrote earlier Tuesday that the mystery is likely to be a commercial or industrial venture based on Berkshire’s documentation and that Chevron is a possibility.

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

Both purchases are consistent with Buffett’s value orientation. Verizon has low valuation trading for about 10 times the estimated 2021 earnings and delivers 4.6%. Over the past few years, the S&P 500 has followed and has been down 7% over the past year while the index has risen by 16%.

Chevron has lowered its lows from last spring as oil prices recovered, but still down 17% over the past year. The company is considered to be the strongest of the global super-large energy companies, with a better balance than competitor

Exxon Mobile

(XOM) and major European competitors such as

Royal Dutch shell

(RDS.A). Chevron’s dividend yield is 5.6% and the payout is increasingly seen as safe with the rise in oil prices.

Berkshire also has its stake in

appeal

(AAPL) up 887.2 million shares, according to Tuesday’s submission.

Write to Andrew Bary by [email protected]