Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bets $8.2b on pharma stocks

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Photo / AP

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway placed a US$5.7 billion ($8.2b) bet on four US pharmaceutical stocks in the third quarter, while trimming its stake in Apple and several big banks.

Berkshire Hathaway added 21.3 million shares of AbbVie, 30 million shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb, 22.4 million shares of Merck and 3.7 million shares of Pfizer, according to a filing on its stock portfolio with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

The Merck, Bristol Myers and AbbVie stakes are all worth roughly US$2b apiece, while the Pfizer investment was smaller at roughly US$140 million.

Many investors follow the company's holdings closely because of Buffett's remarkably successful record.

Despite the multibillion-dollar investment, Buffett's stake in the four pharmaceutical stocks was relatively small, accounting for 1.3 per cent of Bristol-Myers shares outstanding, 1.2 per cent of AbbVie, 0.9 per cent of Merck and less than 0.1 per cent of Pfizer, the Financial Times reported.

Berkshire also picked up 2.4 million shares of T-Mobile stock and added to its holdings in Bank of America, Kroger and General Motors during the quarter. Bank of America remains Berkshire's second-largest investment, worth nearly US$28b.

Berkshire said Monday that it sold off 36.3 million Apple shares during the third quarter, but the iPhone maker remained Berkshire's biggest single investment worth nearly US$114b.

Buffett's company also reduced its investments in several large banks, including Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and PNC Financial.

- Additional reporting AP.