How to buy Berkshire Hathaway stock | 208.99

Berkshire Hathaway Inc is an insurance—diversified business based in the US. Berkshire Hathaway shares (BRK-B) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Berkshire Hathaway employs 391,500 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$248 billion.

How to buy shares in Berkshire Hathaway

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Berkshire Hathaway. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: BRK-B. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Berkshire Hathaway reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$208.99, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Berkshire Hathaway, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Berkshire Hathaway. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted Berkshire Hathaway's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Berkshire Hathaway's share price has had significant negative movement.

Its last market close was USD$208.99, which is 8.87% down on its pre-crash value of USD$229.33 and 31.03% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$159.5.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of Berkshire Hathaway shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$724.72 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$934.19.

Berkshire Hathaway share price

Use our graph to track the performance of BRK.B stocks over time.

Berkshire Hathaway shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-11-25.

Latest market close	USD$208.99
52-week range	USD$159.5 - USD$234.99
50-day moving average	USD$215.8286
200-day moving average	USD$201.592
Wall St. target price	USD$236
PE ratio	15.4471
Dividend yield	N/A (0%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$22232.215

Buy Berkshire Hathaway shares from these brokerages

Compare special offers, low fees and a wide range of types of investments among top trading platforms.

Is it a good time to buy Berkshire Hathaway stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Berkshire Hathaway Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Berkshire Hathaway price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $208.99 from 2020-10-19

1 week (2020-11-19)	-8.95%
1 month (2020-10-26)	0.24%
3 months (2020-08-26)	-2.64%
6 months (2020-05-26)	15.89%

1 year (2019-11-26)	-4.53%
2 years (2018-11-26)	-0.78%
3 years (2017-11-24)	14.60%
5 years (2015-11-25)	54.66%

Is Berkshire Hathaway under- or over-valued?

Valuing Berkshire Hathaway stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Berkshire Hathaway's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Berkshire Hathaway's P/E ratio

Berkshire Hathaway's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 15x. In other words, Berkshire Hathaway shares trade at around 15x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

Berkshire Hathaway's PEG ratio

Berkshire Hathaway's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 0.2601. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Berkshire Hathaway's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Berkshire Hathaway's EBITDA

Berkshire Hathaway's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$71.5 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Berkshire Hathaway's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Berkshire Hathaway financials

Revenue TTM	USD$248 billion
Operating margin TTM	24.68%
Gross profit TTM	USD$105.5 billion
Return on assets TTM	4.73%
Return on equity TTM	8.86%
Profit margin	14.46%
Book value	$264245.47
Market capitalisation	USD$545.8 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Berkshire Hathaway shares

There are currently 11.5 million Berkshire Hathaway shares held short by investors – that's known as Berkshire Hathaway's "short interest". This figure is 8.6% up from 10.6 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Berkshire Hathaway shares can be evaluated.

Berkshire Hathaway's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Berkshire Hathaway's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Berkshire Hathaway shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Berkshire Hathaway shares traded daily (recently around 5.0 million). Berkshire Hathaway's SIR currently stands at 2.3. In other words for every 100,000 Berkshire Hathaway shares traded daily on the market, roughly 2300 shares are currently held short.

However Berkshire Hathaway's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Berkshire Hathaway shares, or, against the total number of tradable Berkshire Hathaway shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Berkshire Hathaway's short interest could be expressed as 0% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Berkshire Hathaway shares in existence, roughly 0 shares are currently held short) or 0.0098% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Berkshire Hathaway shares, roughly 10 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Berkshire Hathaway.

Find out more about how you can short Berkshire Hathaway stock.

Berkshire Hathaway's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Berkshire Hathaway.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Berkshire Hathaway's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 19.08

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Berkshire Hathaway's overall score of 19.08 (as at 01/01/2019) is excellent – landing it in it in the 16th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Berkshire Hathaway is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Berkshire Hathaway's environmental score

Environmental score: 3.6/100

Berkshire Hathaway's environmental score of 3.6 puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Berkshire Hathaway is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Berkshire Hathaway's social score

Social score: 7.75/100

Berkshire Hathaway's social score of 7.75 puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Berkshire Hathaway is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Berkshire Hathaway's governance score

Governance score: 17.22/100

Berkshire Hathaway's governance score puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Berkshire Hathaway is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Berkshire Hathaway's controversy score

Controversy score: 1/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Berkshire Hathaway scored a 1 out of 5 for controversy – the highest score possible, reflecting that Berkshire Hathaway has managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Berkshire Hathaway Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	19.08
Total ESG percentile	15.78
Environmental score	3.6
Environmental score percentile	6
Social score	7.75
Social score percentile	6
Governance score	17.22
Governance score percentile	6
Level of controversy	1

Berkshire Hathaway share dividends

We're not expecting Berkshire Hathaway to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.

Have Berkshire Hathaway's shares ever split?

Berkshire Hathaway's shares were split on a 50:1 basis on 21 January 2010. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 50 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Berkshire Hathaway shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 98% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Berkshire Hathaway shares which in turn could have impacted Berkshire Hathaway's share price.

Berkshire Hathaway share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Berkshire Hathaway's shares have ranged in value from as little as $159.5 up to $234.99. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Berkshire Hathaway's is 0.8298. This would suggest that Berkshire Hathaway's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Berkshire Hathaway overview

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in insurance, freight rail transportation, and utility businesses. It provides property, casualty, life, accident, and health insurance and reinsurance; and operates railroad systems in North America. The company also generates, transmits, stores, and distributes electricity from natural gas, coal, wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, and geothermal sources; operates natural gas distribution and storage facilities, interstate pipelines, and compressor and meter stations; and holds interest in coal mining assets. In addition, it offers real estate brokerage services; and leases transportation equipment and furniture. Further, the company manufactures boxed chocolates and other confectionery products; specialty chemicals, metal cutting tools, and components for aerospace and power generation applications; flooring, insulation, roofing and engineered, building and engineered components, paints and coatings, and bricks and masonry products, as well as offers homebuilding and manufactured housing finance; and recreational vehicles, apparel products, jewelry, and custom picture framing products, and alkaline batteries. Additionally, it manufactures castings, forgings, fasteners/fastener systems, and aerostructures; and seamless pipes, fittings, downhole casing and tubing, and various mill forms. The company distributes newspapers, televisions, and information; franchises and services quick service restaurants; distributes electronic components; and offers logistics services, grocery and foodservice distribution services, and professional aviation training and fractional aircraft ownership programs. It also retails automobiles; furniture, bedding, and accessories; household appliances, electronics, and computers; jewelry, watches, crystal, china, stemware, flatware, gifts, and collectibles; kitchenware; and motorcycle accessories. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Berkshire Hathaway is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.189% of Berkshire Hathaway shares are held by insiders and 69.107% by institutions.

• How many people work for Berkshire Hathaway?

  Latest data suggests 391,500 work at Berkshire Hathaway.

• When does the fiscal year end for Berkshire Hathaway?

  Berkshire Hathaway's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Berkshire Hathaway based?

  Berkshire Hathaway's address is: 3555 Farnam Street, Omaha, NE, United States, 68131

• What is Berkshire Hathaway's ISIN number?

  Berkshire Hathaway's international securities identification number is: US0846707026

• What is Berkshire Hathaway's CUSIP number?

  Berkshire Hathaway's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 084670207