In this piece, we will take a look at Warren Buffett's portfolio and the 15 longest held stocks. If you want to skip our introduction to the Oracle of Omaha, his stocks, and trading strategies, then you can skip ahead to Warren Buffett's Portfolio: 5 Longest Held Stocks.
Warren Buffett is the most successful investor in Wall Street history. His net worth is currently estimated to sit at a cool $138 billion according to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, and this comes after Buffett has donated billions of dollars to charitable causes. Unlike most other billionaires, who love to live in mansions and drive fancy cars, Buffett is perhaps one of the most down-to-earth billionaires in the world, as he drives himself to work and still lives in the same house he did before making wealth greater than the budgets of several countries.
So, what's the key to Buffett's success? Well, if we were to embark on the near impossible task of trying to describe the Oracle's successes in two words, it would be prudence and patience.
Buffett invests in stocks primarily through his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway. Like hedge funds, Berkshire also files its investment holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Insider Monkey regularly compiles such data to provide readers who've subscribed to our newsletter with the trading insights of professionals, and our analysis of Warren Buffett's latest investment portfolio shows that Berkshire Hathaway had piled in a whopping $347 billion in different stocks by the end of Q4 2023. Interestingly, as opposed to the general mantra of diversification that's taught in college level finance courses and MBA classes worldwide, Berkshire's investment portfolio is anything but. The concentration of Buffett's billions shows his unshakeable belief in the stocks that he picks, and for the latest investment portfolio, a cool $174 billion or 50% was invested in a single stock i.e. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
His investing philosophy has been shaped over the decades that Buffett has spent playing with stocks and traces its roots back to the mid-1900s when investors were just starting to exploit the differences between the perceived fair value of a stock and its market price. This approach is called Value Investing, and Insider Monkey has covered this approach quite deeply. For instance, apart from Buffett, another well known value investor is Seth Klarman of Baupost Group, and you can learn more about this by reading 12 Best Value Stocks To Buy Heading Into 2024 (Picked By Seth Klarman).
For Buffett, one of his most memorable and remarkable 'trifles' on the stock market came when he applied the principles of value investing to the shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP). American Express was the firm that introduced credit cards to America, and Buffett realized the potential (or competitive moat) that this had for the firm's share price. When Amex's shares tanked in the 1960s due to lack of oversight at a subsidiary, the Oracle nearly went all in and started buying the shares as he realized that the fair value of the stock was noticeably different than what investors were ascribing it in the market.
Recalling the decision in a letter to Berkshire's shareholders, Buffett explained:
Last year I referred to one investment which substantially outperformed the general market in 1964, 1965 and 1966 and because of its size (the largest proportion we have ever had in anything – we hit our 40% limit) had a very material impact on our overall results and, even more so, this category. This excellent performance continued throughout 1967 and a large portion of total gain was again accounted for by this single security. Our holdings of this security have been very substantially reduced and we have nothing in this group remotely approaching the size or potential which formerly existed in this investment.
So, which stocks in Warren Buffett's portfolio are his longest held stocks? We took a look and some notable ones are American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), and Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO).
Warren Buffett's Portfolio: 15 Longest Held Stocks
Our Methodology
To make our list of Warren Buffett's longest held stocks, we sifted through his Q4 2023 investment portfolio and picked out those stocks that he has consistently held for the longest time period.
Why pay attention to what Buffett is doing? Hedge funds’ top 10 consensus stock picks outperformed the S&P 500 Index by more than 140 percentage points over the last 10 years (see the details here). That’s why we pay very close attention to this often-ignored indicator.
Warren Buffett's Portfolio: 15 Longest Held Stocks
Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) is an American software company that provides data analytics products and services to customers. The firm has beaten analyst EPS estimates in all four of its latest quarters, its shares are rated Buy on average, and the average share price target is $220.68.
86 out of the 933 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's Q4 2023 database had invested in the firm. Brad Gerstner's Altimeter Capital Management is the largest Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) shareholder among these through its $2.4 billion investment.
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), and Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) are met by Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) in our list of Warren Buffett's longest held stocks.
Berkshire Hathaway's Latest Investment Stake: $840 million
T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) is a mega American telecommunications carrier headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It scored a major win in 2024 when SpaceX launched its first direct to cell satellites in partnership with T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) and tested the system afterwards.
By the end of last year's fourth quarter, 75 out of the 933 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey had bought T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS)'s shares. Buffett's investment firm was the biggest shareholder through its $840 million investment.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the world's biggest eCommerce retailer, with a sizeable presence in the data center and cloud computing market as well. However, its cloud division is in for a bit of a belt tightening, after Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced that it will lay off hundreds of people in the unit in April 2024.
293 out of the 933 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's Q4 2023 database were the firm's shareholders. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s largest hedge fund investor is Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management as it owns $6.3 billion worth of shares.
Berkshire Hathaway's Latest Investment Stake: $19.2 million
Liberty Latin America Ltd. (NASDAQ:LILA) is a Bermuda based telecommunications company that offers coverage in Puerto Rico, Panama, and other regions. It started 2024 on a strong note in January by starting to test 5G services in Costa Rica.
By the end of last year's fourth quarter, 18 out of the 933 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey had bought a stake in Liberty Latin America Ltd. (NASDAQ:LILA). William Crowley, William Harker, and Stephen Blass's Ashe Capital owned the biggest stake which was worth $68.3 million.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is the second biggest investment in Warren Buffett's stock portfolio. It secures a place in our list of his longest held stocks after Buffett sold big ticket names such as General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) and Globe Life Inc. (NYSE:GL) in Q4 2023. These days, the bank has its eyes set on the lucrative Australian pension market to balance out other investments.
During December 2023, 96 out of the 933 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's research were the firm's investors. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)'s largest shareholder is Buffett's firm courtesy of its $34.7 billion investment.
Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is a mega American telecommunications company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The firm, along with mega entertainment giant Warner Brothers, found itself in a bit of controversy in April 2024 when two Warner executives with ties to Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) had to resign due to anti trust concerns.
69 out of the 933 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's Q4 2023 database had bought a stake in Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR). Natixis Global Asset Management's Harris Associates owned the biggest stake which was worth $2 billion.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the biggest and most valuable consumer electronics firm in the world. However, 2024 has been a difficult year for the firm, with the shares down 8.45% year to date as Apple fails to follow the hype train surrounding artificial intelligence. The drop has come amidst analyst downgrades, with the latest coming from Loop Capital which cut the share price to $170 from $185 in April 2024.
By December 2023 end, 131 out of the 933 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey were the firm's investors. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s largest shareholder is Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, whose $174 billion stake also makes the stock the biggest in Berkshire's portfolio.
The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) is an American food and beverages company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The firm has been doing well on the financial front as of late by having beaten analyst EPS estimates in all four of its latest quarters. Berkshire's first major stock purchase of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)'s shares came in the third quarter of 2015.
As of December 2023 end, 44 out of the 933 hedge funds covered by Insider Monkey's research had invested in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC). Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owned the biggest stake which was worth $12 billion.
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) is an internet technology company that enables customers to set up and manage their digital domains. The firm was out with some great news in February 2024 when it revealed that internet domain registrations grew 2.5% annually in Q4 2023, indicating a robust market for its products.
In the same time period, 38 out of the 933 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's database were the firm's shareholders. VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)'s largest hedge fund shareholder is Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway through its $2.6 billion stake.
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a financial services firm that provides debit cards, credit cards, and associated services. It's one of the strongest rated stocks on our list, with an average share rating of Strong Buy and an average share price target of $303.54.
For their fourth quarter of 2023 shareholdings, 162 out of the 933 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had bought and owned Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)'s shares. Chris Hohn's TCI Fund Management owned the biggest stake that was worth $4.3 billion.
American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), and Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) are some of Warren Buffett's longest held stocks.
