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Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway loads up on Apple, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Monsanto

Last updated: 09:20 16 May 2018 EDT, First published: 08:57 16 May 2018 EDT

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett
Buffett said he had revised his thinking on IBM, which he bought heavily into in late 2011

Warren Buffett, arguably the best investor of all time, announced his first-quarter portfolio on Tuesday evening. The two most significant buys other than Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) are generic drug company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TEVA) and Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON).

Berkshire boosted its position in Monsanto by 62%, snapping up another 7.26 million shares of Monsanto. Berkshire last held 18.97 million shares of Monsanto.

Berkshire also added 21.6 million more shares of Teva Pharmaceuticals, bringing its entire stake to 40.54 million shares.

Buffett's big bet on Apple was first disclosed in a CNBC interview when the “Oracle of Omaha” revealed Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A) bought 75 million more shares of the iPhone maker in the first quarter and dumped all its shares in computer giant IBM (NYSE:IBM).

Buffett, who earlier in his career famously steered clear of tech stocks because he didn't understand them, told CNBC the tech giant's earnings prowess was a major reason why he took an even bigger bite of Apple.

READ: Warren Buffett piles into Apple stock in 1Q, says CNBC

Berkshire Hathaway filed its first-quarter 13-F on Tuesday evening, giving investors a glimpse into the company's stock portfolio as of March 31, 2018. According to the filing, it sold 35 million shares of Phillips 66 stock back to the company to keep Berkshire's ownership below 10% of the oil refiner in order to avoid regulatory scrutiny.

Meanwhile, Buffet trimmed 1.7 million shares of Wells Fargo &Co. (NYSE:WFC). Still, the bank remained Berkshire’s No. 2 largest equity position with 456.5 million shares.

In February, the Fed board then led by former chair Janet Yellen voted unanimously to order Wells Fargo to cap its growth at the $1.95 trillion in assets reached at the end of last year and to improve its corporate governance in response to the creation of millions of unauthorized customer accounts and other consumer abuses.

Other areas in the portfolio that were trimmed include Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), Liberty Global Corp (TSE:LGD) and United Continental Holdings Inc.(NYSE:UAL).

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