Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) revealed a new position in Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) in its third-quarter 13F filing, released on Friday, Nov. 14.
According to the filing, Berkshire has a new position of 17,846,142 shares, worth nearly $4.4 billion.
This comes as the tech giant’s shares are up more than 46% in the year to date, and more than 12% in just the past month, making it the top-performing Magnificent 7 stock.
According to Barchart’s 13-indicator “Opinion” rating system, Buffett’s Q3 move makes sense. GOOGL has a 100% “Buy” rating currently, and has had the same opinion over the past week and month. That trend is only strengthening, per the same system.
For traders and buy-and-hold investors alike, there’s comfort in GOOGL stock trading above its 20-, 50-, 100-, and 200-day moving averages. Shares have dipped below the 5-day at the $284 level, but are climbing in after-hours trading toward that level again.
Plus, Google shares have a Trend Seeker “Buy” signal intact. Since Trend Seeker issued that “Buy” on Oct. 15, shares have already gained 10%.
Wall Street agrees with this bullish view. Analysts have a “Strong Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $315. This implies roughly 14% upside potential over the next 12 months.
Traders also reacted favorably to the company’s Q3 earnings report. Revenue of $102.4 billion beat estimates for $99.85 billion, and its cloud segment grew revenue a massive 34% in Q3. Plus, despite its increasing capex to support growing artificial intelligence infrastructure, its earnings per share swelled from $2.12 to $2.87 year over year.
Berkshire’s Q3 13F also revealed larger positions in Chubb (CB), Sirius XM (SIRI), Lamar Advertising (LAMR), and Domino’s Pizza (DPZ).
The conglomerate trimmed positions in long-time holdings Apple (AAPL), Bank of America (BAC), and DaVita (DVA) in the third quarter as well.
This comes as the nonagenarian is preparing to step down from his role as Berkshire’s CEO. In the new year, he will be handing the reins over to Greg Abel. Investors should also note that Berkshire’s investment managers Ted Weschler and Todd Combs each manage a portion of the company’s equity portfolio, and are believed to be responsible for several smaller positions. It is unclear what role they will play in a post-Buffett Berkshire, and what role they played in individual Q3 transactions.
On the date of publication, Sarah Holzmann did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com
