Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRKa.N), opens new tab share price set a record high on Monday, reflecting investors’ confidence in Warren Buffett’s company, which is often regarded as a microcosm of the broader American economy.
The price of Berkshire’s Class A shares closed up 2.1% at $652,997.17. They earlier reached $653,861, surpassing the previous high of $647,039 set on Feb. 26. Berkshire’s more widely held Class B shares are worth about 1/1,500th as much.
Monday’s gain boosted the market value of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire to approximately $937 billion, based on reported shares outstanding. The stock trades at about 23 times the full-year operating profit that analysts project.
Some stock price services show Berkshire’s record-high Class A share price was $741,971 on June 3. That appears to reflect a glitch that also caused the price of the Class B shares to briefly fall more than 99% that day.
Berkshire owns dozens of insurance, energy, manufacturing, retail and service businesses including Geico car insurance, the BNSF railroad, Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Dairy Queen ice cream.
It also owns a huge stock portfolio led by Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, whose share price has risen 37% since the end of March.
Despite having donated more than half his Berkshire stock since 2006, the 93-year-old Buffett still owns about 14.5% of the company, worth about $135.8 billion.
His overall fortune is about $137 billion, making him the world’s eighth-richest person, Forbes magazine said on Monday.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/berkshire-hathaway-share-price-sets-record-high-2024-07-15/