Investing.com -- Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) on Wednesday revealed it had taken a $6.72 billion stake in Chubb Ltd (NYSE:CB), sending shares in the insurer surging.
Chubb rose 9% in premarket U.S. trading, putting the stock on pace for its steepest gain since November 2008, after Berkshire said in a filing it owned 25.9 million shares in the insurer as of March 31.
Berkshire began buying Chubb in the third quarter of 2023, and received permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission to temporarily keep the purchase confidential. The conglomerate obtained 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 that it had sold about 15 million shares in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the first quarter, although the iPhone maker still remained the company’s biggest holding by far, worth about $135.4 billion.
Analysts at Evercore ISI said that Berkshire's ownership will likely be a passive investment in Chubb "similar to large investments" it has in other financial firms.
“It is a slight positive signal that Berkshire is making such a large investment at this point in the cycle,” the analysts added.
Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.