Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought stakes in cosmetics chain Ulta Beauty and aircraft parts maker Heico in the second quarter, while also sharply reducing its large holdings of Apple stock.
Berkshire held about 690,000 Ulta Beauty shares worth $266.3 million and 1.04 million Hico shares worth $185.4 million as of June 30, according to a regulatory filing filed Wednesday about its U.S.-listed holdings as of that day.
Ulta Beauty shares jumped 12% in after-hours trading, while Heico shares rose 3%, reflecting views that the companies have Berkshire’s, and possibly Buffett’s, approval.
Wednesday’s filing did not say whether Buffett bought the stock, but his portfolio managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, typically oversee Berkshire’s smaller stock investments.
Alta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hico Co-President Eric Mendelsohn said he was honored by Berkshire’s investment because of the companies’ decentralized business models. Shares of Hollywood, Fla.-based Hico had risen 32% this year through Wednesday’s close.
“I think Berkshire is as bullish on aerospace as we are,” Mendelsohn said in a phone interview.
Buffett’s conglomerate is best known for owning big stocks like auto insurer Geico, BNSF Railroad, and Apple, but it also has stakes in a number of consumer and retail businesses.
The company’s portfolio includes brands such as Benjamin Moore, Dairy Queen, Duracell and Fruit of the Loom, as well as about $2.5 billion worth of shares in grocery chain Kroger.
Ulta has approximately 1,395 stores in all 50 states.
Berkshire also has deep aerospace expertise, having acquired aircraft-parts maker Precision Castparts for $32.1 billion in 2016, which remains the company’s largest overall corporate acquisition to date.
Buffett later said: Overpayment Precision struggled with the decline in air travel and the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX jetliner due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Snowflake Exit
Ulta Beauty and Heico were among the few stocks Berkshire bought in a quarter marked by a rapid withdrawal from the stock market.
Berkshire sold $77.2 billion worth of stock during the period, including about 390 million shares of Apple, nearly half of its holdings.
The company also exited a roughly $1 billion investment in cloud-computing company Snowflake and its remaining stake in media company Paramount Global.
The total purchase price for the shares was just $1.6 billion.
The sale boosted Berkshire’s cash and cash equivalents to $276.9 billion from $189 billion at the end of March.
Buffett’s company has not said whether it increased its sales of Apple shares in the third quarter, but Buffett said in May he expected the iPhone maker to remain its largest holding through the end of the year.
Berkshire sold more than $3.8 billion of Bank of America Corp. stock, its second-largest holding, in the third quarter after at least temporarily halting sales after the bank’s shares fell 12% since mid-July.
During the second quarter, Berkshire reduced its stakes in Capital One, Floor & Decor Holdings, Louisiana Pacific and T-Mobile, while increasing its holdings in Chubb and SiriusXM.
Buffett turns 94 on Aug. 30. He has led Berkshire Hathaway since 1965.
Meanwhile, billionaire investor William Ackman took new stakes in Nike and investment management firm Brookfield in the second quarter.
