Key Takeaways:
Berkshire repurchased 19 times more stock in Q2 2026 and deployed $19.8B net into equities, ending 14 quarters of net selling.
"I am not doing anything that he doesn't approve of. He's not doing anything I don't approve of," Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said in an interview last month. "We talk all the time, but he is the decider."
The Q2 13F filing shows $23.5B in stock purchases against $3.7B in sales. Berkshire added 48.1 million Alphabet shares worth $17B, making it the third-largest holding, and committed $6.8B to a Taylor Morrison transaction alongside a new D.R. Horton position. The company also cut its Bank of America stake by 30.2 million shares, a 5.9% reduction worth about $1.7B, while adding 17.5 million Delta Air Lines shares to grow that position 44% to 57.3 million shares.
Class B shares closed at $502.96 on Aug. 19, up 0.95%, with a market cap of $1.08 trillion. The stock trades 36% above one fair value estimate while trailing the S&P 500 by 10 percentage points year to date.
The buyback acceleration marks a shift from the prior quarter, when repurchases were minimal. Berkshire shares traded between $464 and $500 during Q2 and closed at $521.80 on Aug. 7, meaning recent buybacks were executed at elevated prices rather than distressed levels.
Beyond Alphabet and housing, Berkshire added positions in Lennar, Macy's, the New York Times, and three Japanese trading houses — Mitsubishi, Marubeni, and Sumitomo. Apple, American Express, and Coca-Cola — three of the four largest holdings — remained unchanged. The company also sold more than half of its Capital One position and reduced Kroger by 22%, or 11 million shares.
The filing attributes the buyback decision to CEO Greg Abel rather than Buffett, who handed over the chief executive role at the start of 2026 while retaining the chairman position. Abel has taken a more active capital deployment posture, shifting from the cash-hoarding approach that characterized Buffett's final years. The Delta purchase marks a notable reversal — Buffett sold all four airline positions in spring 2020, calling the valuation an "understandable mistake."
The $19.8B net buying pivot carries concentration risk, with a larger share of capital flowing into a few large positions. Berkshire's housing bets — Taylor Morrison, D.R. Horton, and Lennar — expose the conglomerate to a sector where timing has historically been difficult. The insurance engine that generates premium float supports these investments, but sector-specific downturns could weigh on results more heavily than in a diversified cash-heavy portfolio. Investors will watch the next 13F filing for whether Abel sustains this pace of deployment or reverts to a more conservative posture.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
