Ace investor Warren Buffett has mastered the art of earning profits in both the bull and bear markets alike. He’s taken bets and earned billions of dollars in the last eight decades gaining him the name ‘Oracle of Omaha’. The stock market titan has a net worth of $135 billion making him the 10th richest person in the world. In recent years, Warren Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway has accumulated millions of Apple shares (AAPL) since 2016.
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Warren Buffett began accumulating many more Apple shares since then which accounted for nearly 50% of his overall stock portfolio. Nonetheless, the top investor sold nearly 13% of his overall Apple stock which accounted for 16 million shares in Q1 of 2024.
Apple stocks were trading around the $169 to $195 price range when Warren Buffett sold the shares early this year. The Oracle of Omaha made anywhere between $19.5 billion to $22.6 billion after offloading the stocks last quarter.
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However, after Warren Buffett sold 16 million Apple shares, AAPL’s price shot up in the charts in Q2 of 2024. It ended Tuesday’s trade at a high of 207.15 rising by nearly 6.01% in the last five days.
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Therefore, if Warren Buffett had held on to the 16 million Apple shares for another quarter, he would have made an extra $2 billion to $4.5 billion. The titan of the stock market lost close to $4.5 billion by selling Apple stocks a quarter early in 2024.
Why Did Warren Buffett Sell Apple Shares This Year?
Speculations are rife that Warren Buffett’s Apple stock dump is a well-planned move for tax purposes. Reports state that it was part of a strategy to take advantage of the current tax rates.
President Joe Biden has proposed a new tax rate that significantly raises the taxes of high-net-worth individuals. Therefore, it is rumored that Warren Buffett would have sold the Apple stocks before the new tax mandate took grip.