(Market Insider) Warren Buffett's Apple stake is now worth an astounding 20% of Berkshire Hathaway's market capitalization, reflecting investors' excitement about the tech titan and concerns about the staid conglomerate.
The famed investor's company owned about 245 million Apple shares on March 31, according to the latest data available. Apple's stock price has surged by 44% since then, from about $254 to more than $366 at the close of trading on Monday. Meanwhile, Berkshire stock has slid 1% over the same period.
Assuming Buffett hasn't touched his Apple holdings, Berkshire's stake has mushroomed in value from roughly $62 billion to almost $90 billion, or more than a fifth of Berkshire's $440 billion market capitalization.
The milestone was first spotted by Bespoke Investment Group on Twitter.
The 20% figure is shocking because Apple is just one stock in Berkshire's portfolio, which was valued at more than $175 billion at the end of the first quarter.
Berkshire also boasted $137 billion in cash and short-term investments at last count, valued its total assets at $760 billion, and generated about $255 billion in revenue and $82 billion in net earnings last year from its insurance firms, railroads, utilities, energy providers, manufacturers, and other businesses.
Buffett has personally weathered fierce criticism for being too cautious during the coronavirus pandemic and failing to put his massive cash pile to work.
Berkshire made only $1.8 billion in net stock purchases in the first quarter, sold a net $6.1 billion in stock in April, and failed to make a major acquisition, strike any bailout deals, or buy back much of its own stock when the market crashed.
President Donald Trump, billionaire investor Ken Fisher, investor David Merkel, and the "captain of the day traders" Dave Portnoy have all taken shots at Buffett in recent weeks.
