Warren Buffett So Apple's Third Biggest Shareholder
Market players on Wall Street may be skeptical of Apple before the company reports its latest financial performance in the first quarter of 2018.
This is in contrast to one of Apple's biggest shareholders, Warren Buffett. In the first quarter of 2018, Warren Buffett's investment firm Berkshire Hathaway bought 75 million shares of Apple.
To CNBC, as quoted on Monday (7/5/2018), Apple CEO Tim Cook said, if it pleased by having Warren Buffett and Berkshire as major investors.
"Based on pridbadi experience, I always adore Warren Bufeett and always be grateful for his insights and suggestions," Cook said.
At the close of stock trading Thursday USD 176.89 per share. Berkshire's ownership in Apple is worth USD 42.5 billion. Shares of Apple also touched the highest level in stock trading Friday last week. Apple shares rallied 3.3 percent.
On Friday's stock trading, Apple shares hit $ 183.33. Over the past week, Apple shares increased 13.3 percent, and boosted stock market capitalization above USD 100 billion. That boosted Apple's stock market capitalization to $ 932 billion.
Buffett rate, Apple is a remarkable company. "If you look at Apple, I think it almost doubles its profit in the United States," he said.
Berkshire is Apple's third largest shareholder with Apple stock addition. The other largest shareholding holders are Vanguard and Blackrock.
Apple posted first-quarter performance in 2018 that surpassed Wall Street expectations. Apple sales reached USD 61.1 billion. Their profits are up 30 percent. Apple also sold 52.1 million iPhones. The company also plans to buy back shares worth USD 100 billion and raise dividends. Buffett also supports Apple's move to buyback shares. Apple plans to buyback US $ 100 billion.
"From a point of view we are happy to see Apple's stock price go down, we strongly agree they are buying back shares," Buffett said at Berkshire Hathaway's Annual Stockholders' Meeting.
Buffett also said it was selling IBM shares. Citing the USA Today page, Buffett, who had previously abandoned technology shares for not understanding. He is not comfortable with it. But now its investment companies take the opportunity of the revenue of technology giant.
Buffett bought Apple shares in 2016 with an investment of USD 1 billion. Initially driven by investment manager hired Buffett to manage Berkshire investment shares.
In February, Buffett explains, why he is optimistic with Apple. This iPhone manufacturer is among the most valuable companies in the world based on the value of the stock market.
"Apple has an incredible consumer franchise, I see how powerful the ecosystem is at an incredible rate," he said.
With share purchases since 2016, Berkshire Hathaway has about 240 million shares. Its shareholding value was USD 44.2 billion with a closing stock trading of USD 183.83 on Friday last week.