Berkshire Hathaway Returns to Net Buying With Major Tech and Retail Moves
Berkshire Hathaway ended a 14-quarter stretch of net stock selling in Q2 2026, deploying capital across several names with Alphabet leading the charge.
Berkshire's stake in Alphabet grew 83% to roughly 106M shares across Class A and Class C categories, making the Google and YouTube parent its third-largest stock holding.
Only Apple and American Express rank higher. Berkshire first built its Alphabet position in Q3 2025 and added roughly 48.1M shares in Q2, including about $10B through a June private placement and the remainder on the open market.
Warren Buffett told CNBC the Alphabet investment was his idea, even as CEO Greg Abel now oversees the day-to-day portfolio. Alphabet used the equity raise as part of a broader push to fund AI infrastructure expansion.
Returning to airlines
Berkshire also lifted its Delta Air Lines stake by 44% in Q2, bringing total holdings to 57.3M shares. Berkshire had famously dumped its airline holdings at a loss in early 2020 as COVID-19 gutted air travel. The Delta position was only initiated in Q1 of this year, making the rapid doubling-down notable.
Berkshire also increased its positions in homebuilder Lennar and added a token stake in D.R. Horton, alongside closing its $6.8B acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison in July.
The conglomerate more than doubled its stake in Macy's, a department store Berkshire first bet on in Q1, marking its first public investment in a department store chain in roughly 60 years.
Macy's posted stronger-than-expected Q1 2026 results, with companywide comparable sales rising 3% as Bloomingdale's posted its best first-quarter sales in 154 years. Berkshire's Macy's position remains tiny relative to the overall portfolio, at just 0.06% of total holdings.
Trimming financials
On the sell side, Berkshire cut its Bank of America stake by roughly 6%, marking its eighth straight quarter of reductions and bringing the cumulative cut to 53%.
It also trimmed Capital One Financial by 58%, Ally Financial by roughly 7%, and Kroger by 22%, while exiting Constellation Brands entirely.
Berkshire made $19.8B in stock purchases against $3.7B in sales during the quarter, marking its first net-buying period in more than two years. It also repurchased $4.5B of its own shares, its largest quarterly buyback since 2021.
Cash holdings fell 8% to roughly $365B from $380B at the end of Q1, suggesting Abel is beginning to put some of Buffett’s accumulated dry powder to work.