Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway builds new stakes in Ulta Beauty, Heico
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway took small stakes in beauty retailer Ulta Beauty as well as electronics and aerospace firm Heico last quarter, according to its latest 13F regulatory filing . The Omaha-based conglomerate unveiled a $266 million bet on Ulta Beauty and a $186 million stake in Heico. The positions are relatively minor for Berkshire, whose equity portfolio is worth more than $300 billion. Buffett’s lieutenants Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, who manage about $15 billion each, could be behind these new stocks. Shares of Ulta have been in a spiral as of late. After falling 26% in the second quarter, the stock shed another 15% since the end of June as the retailer warned of cooling demand in the beauty category. Heico has been a strong outperformer this year, with shares rallying more than 32%. Berkshire also increased its stake in Bermuda-based insurer Chubb Ltd. by 4% last quarter, owning $6.9 billion at the end of June. The property and casualty insurer, which Berkshire purchased under confidential treatment for a few quarters, remained Berkshire’s ninth biggest holding. Selling Apple The Oracle of Omaha surprised many when Berkshire disclosed in its earnings filing earlier this month that its Apple holding was valued at $84.2 billion at the end of the second quarter, indicating that Buffett dumped more than 49% of its stake in the iPhone maker. The 93-year-old investment legend has been on a massive selling spree, offloading more than $75 billion in equities in the second quarter and raising Berkshire’s cash pile to $277 billion, an all-time high for the conglomerate and more than the entire annual output of countries the size of Portugal and New Zealand. Buffett also started selling his second-biggest holding Bank of America in July, but the transactions in the third quarter aren’t reflected in Wednesday’s 13F filing.
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