NEW YORK, May 16, 2026, 11:10 (EDT)
- Berkshire Class B shares ended Friday at $482.70, slipping 0.3% for the session. The stock is still about 1.4% higher than last Friday.
- Berkshire’s new filing reports new positions in Delta and Macy’s, a larger stake in Alphabet, and sales of Amazon, UnitedHealth, Visa, and Mastercard.
- NYSE is closed Saturday. Regular trading will pick up Monday, as rates and oil moves keep setting the overall tone.
Berkshire Hathaway stock faces a key test for Greg Abel on Monday as he deals with his first major portfolio shakeup. Investors will decide whether to back the move or keep lowering the post-Warren Buffett premium.
Berkshire filed after the close on Friday, so the regular market didn’t get to react. Class B shares finished at $482.70, off 0.28% for the session but above $475.94 from the prior week. The S&P 500 was little changed over the week, adding 0.1% despite a Friday slide on oil and higher Treasury yields.
This is key now because the 13F, a quarterly SEC filing disclosing big investment managers’ U.S. equity holdings, gives investors an early read on any moves at Berkshire with Abel in the lead. The SEC calls Form 13F an institutional investment manager filing that must show things like issuer, class, number of shares, and fair market value.
Berkshire’s May 15 SEC filing, which lists positions as of March 31, came in at 4:06 p.m. EDT Friday. The filing doesn’t include any trades made after the quarter ended, so it can’t explain all of Monday’s moves.
Berkshire Hathaway added a $2.65 billion investment in Delta Air Lines, picked up a small piece of Macy’s, and bought a bigger share in Alphabet. The company exited Amazon, UnitedHealth, Visa, Mastercard, Domino’s Pizza, Aon and Pool, and trimmed Chevron by 35%, according to Reuters.
Delta climbed 3.3% and Macy’s was up 6.3% in after-hours moves, according to Reuters. After-hours trading, when deals are made after the exchange closes, tends to be thin and sometimes loses steam when the market opens again.
Berkshire’s stock barely moved this week. Class A shares most recently changed hands at $723,821. The Class B shares have been flat, holding to the $475.90-$489.42 range from last week.
Berkshire’s balance sheet still lets it wait things out. First-quarter operating earnings came in at $11.35 billion, up from $9.64 billion a year ago. At the end of March, insurance and other units held $373.5 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and U.S. Treasury bills, net of unsettled Treasuries.
Berkshire did some buybacks in March after staying out in January and February. The company’s first-quarter filing said it bought 33 Class A shares plus 431,462 Class B shares during March. Buybacks, which are when a company purchases its own stock, are one way management signals it sees value.
Abel tried to reassure investors. At the annual meeting this month, he called Berkshire’s position a “unique opportunity” to build on its businesses and redeploy capital. “We can create long-term value for shareholders,” he said. Buffett, now chairman, backed him from the audience: “Greg is doing everything I did and then some.” Reuters
Some outside shareholders haven’t been quick to jump in. Steve Check at Check Capital Management said before the meeting that “It is not overpriced anymore.” Lawrence Cunningham, law and governance professor at the University of Delaware, said “the market is expressing caution.” Paul Lountzis at Lountzis Asset Management said the bigger challenge is clear: at a $1 trillion market value, Berkshire is “much harder to grow.” Reuters
Berkshire insurance faces headwinds as Geico pushes to take back share from Progressive and others. Abel said the insurance market is “softening,” so it’s tougher to price premiums high enough for the risks. That puts pressure on the business investors often see as Berkshire’s main profit driver. Reuters
But the risks stand out. Buying Delta means taking on fuel cost risk with oil shaking up bonds, and exits from Visa, Mastercard and Amazon could spark talk on whether Berkshire is cutting old managers’ picks or hinting at a bigger shift. If Treasury yields keep moving higher, headlines around Berkshire’s picks might get lost Monday as the index could pull it down too.
Berkshire is on watch for a steady or modestly higher open as traders wait to see whether the Delta and Alphabet moves mean Abel will actually make changes. Clearing last week’s top around $489 could bring buyers back, but falling toward $476 would show the leadership discount is still weighing on the stock.
