The Real Reasons Warren Buffett Is Selling Apple Stock Fast

When you're looking to improve your financial situation, you could do far worse than borrowing financial tips and tricks from Warren Buffett. The economic guru may have stepped down as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO at the end of 2025, but he has such a long track record of successful investments that many still see his perspective as invaluable financial advice. The value of Berkshire Hathaway stock is roughly 5.5 million times more than it was in 1964, so it's no wonder Buffett is a financial celebrity that financial experts respect. A large part of this company's returns came from significant investments in companies like American Express, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and Apple. 

Despite Apple making for a particularly sound investment on Buffett's part, many may be surprised to learn Berkshire Hathaway actually sold $10.6 billion in Apple stock in the first three quarters of 2025, according to 24/7 Wall Street. The company initially purchased Apple stock in early 2016, and the investment has paid off handsomely: Buying $1,000 in Apple stock 10 years ago would have resulted in a nearly 583% total return as of 2025, according to Benzinga. But as always, Buffett has his reasons for such a drastic reduction in his company's Apple holdings: Some have to do with the shifting value of Apple stock specifically, while others concern the market at large.

Although Berkshire Hathaway has sold a large amount of Apple stock in 2025, the investment giant's stock-selling decisions aren't limited to Apple. By late 2025, Berkshire Hathaway consistently sold more stocks than it purchased every quarter for three years. During the first nine months of 2025, Berkshire Hathaway sold more than $24 billion worth of stocks in total. In the third quarter alone, Buffet reduced his shares in Apple by almost 15%, in VeriSign by 32.4%, and in Bank of America by 6.2%. In other words, Buffett's decision to sell isn't necessarily limited to reducing his company's exposure to Apple; he might be reducing exposure to stocks in general.

At the end of the third quarter of 2025, Berkshire Hathaway held almost $382 billion in cash and holdings like Treasury bills, an unprecedented figure for the company. Some experts believe Buffett may be holding a large cash position because of uncertainty in the stock market. Stocks in the S&P 500 are at a collective valuation that's higher than their average over the past 25 years. However, not all hope is lost. During Berkshire Hathaway's 2025 Annual Meeting, Buffett explained that he's still open to investing in opportunities that make sense. "We're running a business which is very, very, very opportunistic," he stated (via CNBC).

Investors who purchase overvalued stocks may be facing some risk of investment losses. While Buffett did not specifically call Apple or the stock market overvalued at the Berkshire Hathaway meeting, he historically tends to hold larger cash positions in Berkshire Hathaway when he struggles to find good stock investing opportunities because they don't fit his core principle of using value investing techniques. As a value investor, he looks for businesses that have a higher value than what the stock price shows, rather than being overvalued. This is exactly what he did with Apple, and looking at the company's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio over the last decade certainly justifies why someone like Buffett might be reluctant to hold too much stock.

A P/E ratio compares the price of the company's stock to its earnings per share. An average P/E ratio often falls between 20 and 25, although it depends on the industry sector. Companies with high P/E ratios mean that investors are predicting high future growth compared to a low P/E ratio for a steady company with slower growth expected. Companies with lower P/E ratios are generally considered value investments, while those with higher P/E ratios typically carry a higher risk of losses counterbalanced by the chance for future investment growth. Apple's P/E ratio shot up from around 10.9 to over 36 in the years since Berkshire Hathaway made its initial investment, peaking around 40 in 2024. This trajectory suggests that holding Apple stock could be much riskier than it was in previous decades.