Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been the single largest holding in the portfolio of perhaps the most famous investor of all time, the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, and his Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA, BRKB). As of the latest filing, in fact, it accounts for as much as 50.19% of the portfolio, even after the sale of approximately $2 billion worth of AAPL shares.
The investment has been famously lucrative for Buffett as Apple has been on a relentless rise for well over a decade – since 2007, for the most part, and the mobile phone revolution the release of the very first iPhone initiated.
The Oracle of Omaha, however, was a relatively late investor in AAPL stock in the grand scheme of things, having purchased the technology blue-chip giant only in the first quarter of 2016 – missing much of the 541.86% surge that took place between 2007 and Warren Buffett acquisition.
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How much is Buffett actually up on Apple stock?
The Oracle of Omaha’s initial acquisition of Apple stock was – according to the 13-F filings for the first quarter of 2016 – reported to have been worth approximately $1 billion ($1,069,382,000 to be precise) – and got Buffett as many as 9,811,747 AAPL shares – 39 million after accounting for the 4-for-1 split that took place in late August 2020 for the purposes of the calculation.
Given that the rough average stock price for Apple shares – again, after accounting for the stock split – was around $24 at the time of the initial purchase, while the press time value of the shares stands at an impressive $182.32 – Buffett’s original investment grew to the value of approximately $8 billion – an impressive return rate of 659.67%.
This means that any investor or trader who chose to follow the Oracle of Omaha and invest as little as $1,000 after the Q1 2016 13-F was published would, by February 22, 2024, have about $7,596.67 in Apple stock alone.
How much does Buffett have invested in Apple stock now?
The story is, obviously, somewhat more complex since Buffett both bought additional Apple shares and sold some of his tech giant stock in the many quarters since 2016.
The latest 13-F filing for Berkshire Hathaway shows that, as of the end of Q4, 2023, the Oracle of Omaha holds as many as 905,560,000 Apple shares worth an impressive $174 billion.
Apple stock price chart
While Warren Buffett’s cumulative investment in Apple stock likely hasn’t brought a total return rate of 600%, it is, without a doubt, a highly profitable purchase as AAPL shares rose as much as 22.44% in the last 52 weeks.
More recently, however, the investment is negative as the technology giant’s stock declined 1.79% since January 1, 2024, and is as much as 5.97% in the red in the last 30 days.
The performance of Apple’s shares is no better in the short term as the latest full week of trading saw them decline 1.61%. Even the most recent full trading day – Wednesday, February 21 – saw AAPL stock close a mere 0.42% in the green at $182.32.
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