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Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are among the most famous Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) investors. They started their position in 2016, continually added to it, and rode Apple’s growth to impressive gains. However, they’ve been dumping Apple shares steadily each quarter in 2024. Is it time for other investors to follow suit? After all, the stock is trading near all-time highs.
Berkshire’s Apple stake was biggest in in the third quarter of 2023 at around 915 million shares, making up 50% of its overall portfolio. That’s a massive concentration, more than many investors would have chosen.
However, that’s not why Buffett decided to sell it. Because Berkshire added to its Apple position along the way, it is sitting on massive gains. Massive gains mean a large tax bill when it comes time to sell. Currently, the capital gains tax rate sits at 21%, a historically low figure. However, there are many proposals to increase this rate to 28%, which would increase the amount of taxes Berkshire owes on its Apple gains.