Berkshire Hathaway sold 20 million shares in Apple in the June quarter.
Apple shares were up 0.1% in early premarket trading on Friday, even after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway trimmed its stake in the iPhone maker last quarter.
The storied investor sold 20 million shares of Apple in the June quarter, marking the first time it reduced its stake in the consumer-electronics giant since last year.
Still, Apple remains Berkshire’s largest holding. Apple shares have slipped 7% year-to-date.
On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment shifted to ‘bearish’ as of early Friday, from ‘bullish’ the previous day, with several users noting the development.
“$AAPL darn…no hope for Apple this Friday…so sad,” a user said.
Shares of the company, however, are headed for their second weekly gain.
Apple has been in a tough spot lately. It has faced multiple hurdles in rolling out AI features on Apple devices, which has hurt its business in the key Chinese market.
Meanwhile, an unfriendly tone between President Donald Trump, who wants Apple to manufacture more in the United States, and Tim Cook hasn’t helped. Apple, which has traditionally manufactured the bulk of its devices at Foxconn factories in China, has spent the last few years shifting production to India.
Still, Trump and Cook were seen together at a recent White House media event, and Trump later posted positively about the Apple CEO, signaling an improvement in relations.
Apple has struck a partnership with Alibaba to power AI features on Apple devices in China, pending rollout.
All eyes are now on the next line of iPhones, likely to be unveiled in late September or early October.
Among its other trades in the June quarter, Berkshire opened a position on UnitedHealth Group and increased its stake in Allegion, Lamar Advertising, Nucor, D.R. Horton, and Lennar.
It pared down its stakes in Bank of America and shed all of its remaining T-Mobile.
Apple’s stock has lost over 6% this year, underperforming the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes.
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