Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting Begins; Company Reveals Major Stock Purchases In Q1

After a two-year hiatus, this year’s “Woodstock for Capitalists” returns to Omaha, Nebraska as an in-person gathering.

What Happened: Berkshire Hathaway Inc's (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) annual shareholder meeting takes place on Saturday, 91-year-old chairman and CEO Warren Buffett will be addressing investors, along with 98-year-old Charlie Munger, the long-time second-in-command at the firm.

As the meeting commenced, Berkshire released its quarterly results, which revealed the company purchased $51.1 billion of stocks in the first quarter of this year. (Net buys for Q1 came in at $41.4 billion after stock sales.)

Berkshire raised its ownership of Chevron Corp CVX to $25.9 billion, with the purchase of about $21 billion of the company's stock in Q1. Berkshire also purchased about $7 billion worth of Occidental Petroleum Corp OXY in the first quarter.

Berkshire also bought back $3.2 billion of its own stock in Q1, down from $6.9 billion in buybacks in Q4 2021. The firm reported a net income of $5.5 billion in the first quarter, which included $1.6 billion of losses on its investment and derivatives portfolio.

What's Next: Some topics Berkshire investors are expected to raise on Saturday include: how the “Oracle of Omaha” views the markets in the midst of an ongoing correction, how Buffet has been investing Berkshire’s capital during the market downturn, and details on the company’s succession plan if and when Buffett decides to retire.

Also Read: Ahead Of Berkshire Hathaway's Annual Meeting, Key Board Member Says Buffett's Designated Successor Has Full Backing

In February, Buffett indicated that the company was holding a near-record $146.7 billion in cash, and the company now has cash holdings of about $106 billion as of March 31, 2022.

Price Action: Berkshire share were down 3.07% on Friday, closing at $484,340.00, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Courtesy of Fortune Live Media on Flickr