OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett now has more than $325 billion in cash after launching billions of dollars’ worth of Apple and Bank of America shares this year and continuing to collect a steady stream of profits from all Apple and Bank of America shares. Berkshire Hathaway various businesses without finding any major acquisitions.

Berkshire said it sold about 100 million more Apple shares in the third quarter after halving its massive investment in the iPhone maker last quarter. The remaining stake, about 300 million shares valued at $69.9 billion at the end of September, remains Berkshire’s largest single investment, but largely cut It was worth $174.3 billion since the end of last year.

Investors will also be disappointed to learn that Berkshire did not repurchase any of its own shares this quarter.

CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert said shareholders will wonder why Buffett continues to hoard so much cash. “Are they more pessimistic than others about the future economic and market situation?” he said.

At the annual meeting in May, Buffett said one reason he started selling some of his Apple shares was that he expected tax rates to increase further in the future. But Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said he wondered whether part of the reason Buffett started selling Apple was tied to Vice Chairman Charlie Munger’s death last year, because the selling began shortly after Munger’s death. Shanahan said Buffett has never been as comfortable with tech as his longtime partner.

“If Charlie Munger were still alive, maybe he wouldn’t have sold his position so aggressively — maybe he wouldn’t have sold at all,” Shanahan said.

Berkshire said Saturday that investment gains pushed its third-quarter profit back to $26.25 billion, or $18,272 per Class A share. A year ago, unrealized paper investment losses dragged the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate’s earnings into a loss of $12.77 billion, or $8,824 per Class A share.

Buffett has long recommended that investors pay more attention to Berkshire’s operating earnings if they want to get a good idea of ​​how the businesses it owns are doing because those numbers do not include investments. Berkshire’s net profit numbers can vary widely from quarter to quarter, along with the value of its investments, regardless of whether the company buys anything.

By that measure, Berkshire said operating earnings fell just 6% to $10.09 billion, or $7,023.01 per Class A share. This compares with $10.8 billion last year, or $7,437.15 per Class A share.

Four analysts surveyed by FactSet Research predicted Berkshire’s operating earnings per Class A share would be $7,335.11.

Berkshire’s revenue was little changed at $92.995 billion. A year ago, it reported revenue of $93.21 billion. That figure was above the $92.231 billion in revenue predicted by three analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Besides Geico, Berkshire owns several insurance companies, including BNSF railroad, several major utilities, and a diverse collection of retail and manufacturing businesses, including brands such as Dairy Queen and See’s Candy.

Guard, one of Berkshire’s insurance companies, reported some additional losses compared to previous years after executives re-evaluated their policies.

Berkshire solved a mystery in the quarter by revealing how much it paid to buy the remaining shares in the utilities business from the estate of former Berkshire board member Walter Scott.

Berkshire said it paid $2.4 billion in cash, issued $600 million in debt and gave the Scott family Class B Berkshire shares worth just over $1 billion. So the total compensation was approximately $4 billion. That means the Scotts didn’t get as good a price for their 8% stake in the utilities as when Berkshire Vice Chairman Greg Abel sold his 1% stake in the utilities for $870 million two years ago.

Abel is planned to succeed 94-year-old Buffett as CEO in the event of his death.

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