warren buffettWarren Buffett.Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
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  • During the third quarter, Berkshire Hathaway raised its stake in Apple by 3%, to 134 million outstanding shares, a regulatory filing showed.
  • The firm run by Warren Buffett also raised its stakes in Monsanto and Synchrony Financial.
  • Major investment firms are required to disclose their long positions in stocks for the previous quarter. But a time delay means the information may be outdated.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway raised its stake in Apple by 3%, to 134 million outstanding shares, in the third quarter, a regulatory filing released Tuesday showed.
The conglomerate owned about 2.6% of Apple shares as of September 30, the 13F filing for the quarter ended September 30 showed. That made Berkshire the fifth-largest owner of Apple's outstanding shares, according to Bloomberg data.
Though Buffett famously avoids technology companies, Apple fits his investing philosophy. Besides being a strong consumer brand, the iPhone maker pays regular dividends and spends on buybacks. Apple has also traded at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than many of its peers.
Berkshire Hathaway first invested in Apple in 2016 when it bought 10 million shares. Buffett said in August that he had never sold Apple shares and did not pay attention the calendar when deciding to buy.
In Q3, Berkshire raised its stake in the agricultural-biotech company Monsanto by 10% and increased its holding in Synchrony Financial. The firm slashed its stake in IBM.
"I don't value IBM the same way that I did six years ago when I started buying," Buffett told CNBC in May.
Major investment firms, including hedge funds, are required to disclose their long positions in stocks every quarter. Because of a time delay, however, these positions may have changed or been closed by the time the filing is public.

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