Warren Buffett is a legend in the investment world. He is popular for earning market-beating returns throughout his investment career. Buffett is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He has made significant changes in his pool of investments in 2021. The Oracle of Omaha has ended his stake in financial and energy stocks and developed a new interest in the insurance industry.

The below table details the changes in Warrant Buffett’s investments for the first quarter of 2021:

Verizon

In the last quarter of 2020, Berkshire bought a massive chunk of shares in Verizon (NASDAQ:VZ). The stake bought by Warren Buffett’s company in the first quarter of 2021 was worth $8.62 Billion, adding more than 12 million shares. Today Berkshire is the fourth-largest owner of Verizon shares, equaling 3.8%.

In my opinion, Verizon offers a safe dividend yield and low leverage to its investor. Moreover, its growth prospects and 5G strategy makes it a more attractive investment.

Kroger

Kroger (NYSE:KR) is one of the biggest investment addition Warren Buffett has made during the first quarter of 2021. A total of 17.5 million shares were purchased in the current year. This reflects a 52% increase from last year holdings. Initially, Buffett bought 8.6 million shares in the last quarter of 2020. Today, Berkshire is now the third-largest owner of Kroger shares.

Kroger is a massive supermarket chain with more than 2,500 retail stores. The stock performance of the retail chain has been commendable during COVID-19. While the S&P 500 lost about 34%, the share of Kroger appreciated by 5%.

Marsh McLennan

Marsh McLennan (NYSE:MMC) is another one of Warren Buffett’s investments. He increased his stake during the first quarter of 2021. A total of 1 million more shares were purchased. This reflects a 23% increase from last year. Talking about last year, 4.2 million shares were purchased by the CEO of Berkshire.

Marsh McLennan is the world’s leading insurance broker and risk advisor. The stock performance of the insurance company has outperformed in 2021. Moreover, the company also offers a 1.4% dividend yield.

AON

AON (NYSE:AON) is a new addition by the Berkshire Company within the insurance industry. As mentioned before, Warren Buffett has shown keen interest in the insurance companies in 2021. The legendary investor added approximately 4.1 million shares of AON in his company’s holdings.

AON has shown significant operational strength in the past years, consistently improving its bottom line. Compared to the S&P 500 and the SPDR S&P 500 Insurance ETF, AON has provided better returns to investors.

RH

RH (NYSE:RH) remains one of the favourite stock of the CEO of Berkshire. In the last quarter of 2019, Warren Buffett increased his stake in the home-goods retailer company by 41%. Later on, he purchased more shares in Q4 2020. This year, he increased his holdings once again by approximately 1%.

The home retailer company operates more than 100 stores across the US and Canada. The share of RH has risen by more than 40% since the start of the year. RH has been successful when work from home became the norm while catering to the top class.

Summing up Warren Buffett’s trades

At the age of 90, Warren Buffett stands as one of the most successful investors. The legendary investor has traders and investors from around the world hooked to his investing advice and investments. Personally, I believe it’s always a good idea to follow in the footsteps of successful people like Buffett.