Investing.com-- Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRKa) on Wednesday revealed it had taken a $6.72 billion stake in Chubb Ltd (NYSE:CB), sending shares of the insurer surging to record highs in aftermarket trade.
Chubb rose 7.5% after hours to a record high of $271.84, after Berkshire said in a filing it owned 25.9 million shares in the insurer as of March 31.
Berkshire had begun buying Chubb since the third quarter of 2023, and had received permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission to temporarily keep the purchase confidential. The hedge fund had received similar permissions for its other purchases in Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM), as well as International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ).
Chubb clocked strong earnings in the first quarter of 2024, with its gross premiums crossing $14 billion and its net income surging to $5.23 from $4.54 last year.
The Chubb stake comes just days after Berkshire disclosed it had sold about 15 million shares in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the first quarter, although the iPhone maker still remained the company’s biggest holding by far, worth about $135.4 billion.