Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway took small stakes in beauty retailer Ulta Beauty and electronics and aerospace company Heico last quarter, according to its latest 13F regulatory filing. The Omaha-based conglomerate announced a $266 million bet on Ulta Beauty and a $186 million stake in Heico. Those positions are relatively small for Berkshire, whose stock portfolio is worth more than $300 billion. Buffett’s lieutenants Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, who each manage about $15 billion, may be behind the new stocks. That came when Berkshire disclosed in its earnings report earlier this month that its Apple holdings were worth $84.2 billion at the end of the second quarter, indicating that Buffett had sold off just over 49% of the iPhone maker. The “Oracle of Omaha” surprised many. The 93-year-old investing legend has been on a massive sell-off, offloading more than $75 billion in stocks in the second quarter, boosting Berkshire’s cash hoard to $277 billion, the highest level in the group’s history. It also exceeded the full year’s cash reserves. Buffett also began selling Bank of America, his second-largest holding, in July, but the third-quarter transactions were not reflected in Wednesday’s 13F filing.
