Recently, major international investment institutions have submitted their 13F reports to the U.S. SEC, revealing their holdings for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the “Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffett increased his position in Occidental Petroleum Corporation(OXY.US), while Bridgewater gradually took profits from technology stocks. BlackRock’s strategy was markedly different, as it aggressively increased its stake in the “Big Seven” of U.S. stocks.

Buffett Increases Stake in Occidental Petroleum

According to the published 13F document, as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, Berkshire Hathaway’s total market value of U.S. equity holdings was approximately $267 billion, a slight increase from $266 billion at the end of the third quarter.

Specifically, Berkshire Hathaway initiated positions in 1 new security, increased its position in 5 securities; at the same time, it sold out of 3 positions and reduced its holdings in 8 securities. Among them, the top ten holdings account for 89.72% of the total market value, including Apple Inc.(AAPL.US), Bank of America Corporation(BAC.US), Coca-Cola Company(KO.US), Chevron Corporation(CVX.US), Occidental Petroleum Corporation(OXY.US), Moody's Corporation(MCO.US), Kraft Heinz Company(KHC.US), Chubb Limited(CB.US), and DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc.(DVA.US).

Apple Inc.(AAPL.US) remains Berkshire’s largest holding; as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, the company held 300 million shares with a market value of $75.126 billion, representing about 28% of the investment portfolio, with no change in the number of shares from the previous quarter.

Berkshire also made no change to its second-largest holding, American Express Company(AXP.US), continuing to hold 152 million shares; at the end of the period, the market value was $44.997 billion, representing 16.82% of the portfolio.

However, Berkshire significantly reduced its holdings in Bank of America by 117 million shares in the fourth quarter of 2024, bringing the total number of shares down to 680 million; the end-of-period market value was $29.896 billion, representing 11.17% of the portfolio and making it the third-largest holding. Berkshire had already sold 235 million shares of Bank of America in the third quarter of 2024, without providing an explanation for the continued reduction.

Among the top ten holdings, Occidental Petroleum Corporation(OXY.US) became the only one Berkshire added to. In December 2024, Berkshire Hathaway purchased approximately 8.9 million shares of Occidental Petroleum at a price of around $46 per share, costing about $400 million. Also, according to a recently disclosed document, Berkshire Hathaway added approximately 763,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum on February 7, 2025, at a price of $46.8195 per share, with an expenditure of about $35.72 million. After this transaction, Berkshire’s latest total holding in Occidental Petroleum common stock increased to 265 million shares.

In the last quarter of last year, the only new position that Berkshire Hathaway initiated was in the alcohol industry giant Constellation Brands, Inc. Class B(STZ.B.US), purchasing 5.6243 million shares, with the end-of-period value of the holdings being $1.243 billion.

Bridgewater Gradually Takes Profits from Tech Stocks

As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, Bridgewater’s total fund holdings reached $21.8 billion, an increase of $4.1 billion from the third quarter.

During the fourth quarter of 2024, Bridgewater made significant sales in the six major U.S. tech giants — Alphabet Inc. Class A(GOOGL.US), NVIDIA Corporation(NVDA.US), Meta Platforms(META.US), Microsoft Corporation(MSFT.US), Apple Inc.(AAPL.US), and Amazon.com, Inc.(AMZN.US). Among these, the reduction in Apple was as much as 40%, in Nvidia it reached 26%, and in Amazon, the reduction was close to 35%.

Specifically, Bridgewater reduced its holdings in Nvidia by 1.257 million shares, and Google-A by 758,000 shares. Additionally, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon also experienced reductions of varying degrees, specifically 181,000 shares, 203,000 shares, 492,000 shares, and 415,000 shares, respectively.

Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater, recently mentioned that current AI-related asset prices are expensive and, combined with the environment of high-interest rates, resemble the situation during the tech bubble of 1998 and 1999, suggesting that market risks should not be ignored in such circumstances.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, Bridgewater initiated a position by buying 154,000 shares of Tesla Motors, Inc.(TSLA.US), with the end-of-quarter holding value exceeding $62 million. Additionally, Bridgewater increased its holdings in several other stocks. PayPal Holdings Inc(PYPL.US) was added with 1.137 million shares, and eBay Inc.(EBAY.US) with 1.499 million shares.

Besides individual stocks, S&P 500 Index Ishares(IVV.US) was reduced by 183,000 units, and iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF(IEMG.US) was also reduced by 120,000 units.

On the buying side, Bridgewater purchased nearly 7.4 million units of ETF-S&P 500(SPY.US), an increase of 883%.

BlackRock Increases Stakes in the “Big Seven” of U.S. Stocks

As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, the total market value of BlackRock’s stock holdings was $4.94 trillion, an increase of 1.94% from $4.76 trillion the previous quarter.

During the fourth quarter of 2024, BlackRock initiated positions in 342 subjects, increased holdings in 3,336, sold out of 176, and reduced holdings in 1,347.

In contrast to Bridgewater, BlackRock significantly increased its stakes across the “Big Seven” of U.S. stocks, adding approximately 1 to 3% to the shares of these seven companies, ensuring they all entered its top ten holdings.

Looking at the changes in holding percentages, BlackRock’s top five purchases in the fourth quarter of 2024 were Tesla Motors, Inc.(TSLA.US), Amazon.com, Inc.(AMZN.US), Broadcom Limited(AVGO.US), NVIDIA Corporation(NVDA.US), and Apple Inc.(AAPL.US). The top five sales included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH.US), Coca-Cola Company(KO.US), Exxon Mobil Corporation(XOM.US), Elevance Health, Inc(ELV.US), and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.(TMO.US).

It is noteworthy that during the fourth quarter of 2024, BlackRock completely sold out of Super Micro Computer, Inc.(SMCI.US).