Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reveals billion-dollar stakes in Chevron and Verizon

• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway invested in Chevron and Verizon.
• It disclosed a $4.1 billion stake in the energy titan and a $8.6 billion position in the telecoms giant.
• Berkshire also trimmed its enormous Apple stake and exited JPMorgan and Pfizer.
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Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway revealed multibillion-dollar stakes in Chevron and Verizon in its latest portfolio update.

The famed investor's conglomerate owned 48.5 million shares in the energy titan worth $4.1 billion at the end of December, its 13-F filing on Tuesday revealed. It also held 147 million of the telecom giant's shares, worth a total of $8.6 billion.

Read more: 7 experts share their hopes for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway this year. Cutting back on Apple, boosting buybacks, and landing a big acquisition are on the list.

Berkshire - which owns scores of businesses including See's Candies, Geico, and the BNSF railroad - also established a $500 million position in Marsh & McLennan, a professional-services firm.

The conglomerate secured regulatory permission to keep its three new positions confidential in its third-quarter portfolio update until it was done building them, given the risk that other investors would rush to buy them and drive up its cost base.

Buffett and his team boosted their stakes in pharmaceutical giants AbbVie, Merck, and Bristol Myers Squibb, as well as Kroger, RH, and T-Mobile last quarter.

On the other hand, Berkshire trimmed its stake in Apple - by far its largest holding - by 57 million shares or 6% last quarter. The holding accounted for 44% of its entire $270 billion stock portfolio, down from 48% at the end of September.

Read more: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway swung from extreme caution to a flurry of deals in 6 months. We asked a bunch of experts to analyze its shifting strategy

Berkshire more than halved its Wells Fargo position to 52 million shares - a fraction of the 500 million shares in the bank it once held.

It also exited JPMorgan, PNC, and M&T after slashing its positions in the banks last year, and sold its Pfizer stock despite only investing in the drugmaker in the third quarter of 2020.

The company also trimmed its stakes in Suncor Energy, US Bancorp, and GM, which has been one of its best-performers in recent months. Moreover, it exited its surprising bet on Barrick Gold.