Berkshire Hathaway boosts Alphabet to a top three holding, ups Delta and housing bets

Berkshire Hathaway sharply increased its stake in Alphabet in the second quarter, vaulting the Google parent into its three biggest stock holdings. The sprawling conglomerate also added to the size of its investments in Delta Air Lines and various homebuilders.

Berkshire, now operating under CEO Greg Abel, owned about 106 million Alphabet shares worth $37.9 billion at the end of June, according to a regulatory filing released Friday. The size of the position jumped 83% in the latest quarter, making Alphabet the third-largest U.S.-listed equity holding at Omaha-based Berkshire by market value. Only investments in Apple and American Express are larger.

The increase largely reflects a $10 billion private stock purchase announced in early June, when Alphabet sought fresh capital to finance its massive AI infrastructure buildout.

Warren Buffett, now chairman at Berkshire, told CNBC he had been behind the bullish view on Alphabet, with Abel’s support.

Berkshire also continued to build a sizable wager on the airline industry, a past favorite of Buffett’s. The holding in Delta Air Lines climbed 44% during the quarter, to 57.3 million shares, valued at about $5.4 billion at the end of June. Berkshire had only recently returned to Delta after famously selling its airline holdings in the early days of the pandemic.

Housing was another cyclical business where Berkshire increased its exposure, boosting its holding of Class A shares of Lennar by nearly 30%, to 13.1 million shares, worth about $1.19 billion, while Class B holdings rose 25% to roughly 298,000 shares. Berkshire also disclosed a small new position in D.R. Horton, holding 3,600 shares at the end of June.

Berkshire ended a long streak of net stock sales, emerging as a buyer of equities in the second quarter with nearly $20 billion in net purchases. Berkshire had been a net seller for 14 straight quarters before the latest three-month period.

The conglomerate’s cash level fell to $365.5 billion at the end of June from a record $397.4 billion three months earlier, as Berkshire began putting more of its capital to work through investments and share repurchases. The quarter also saw the completion of Berkshire’s acquisition of Taylor Morrison, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based homebuilder.