| Berkshire pares back on pharmaceuticals Berkshire Hathaway released its end-of-Q3 stock portfolio snapshot this week, revealing more selling than buying, including reductions for several drug companies.
It completely sold its remaining 9.2 million share stake in Merck, which would have been worth $688 million when the third quarter ended on September 30.
It was a relatively short round trip for the holding. Berkshire started buying Merck last summer, reporting it held 22.4 million shares worth almost $1.9 billion at the end of 2020's third quarter.
 After more purchases in the fourth quarter, Berkshire held 28.7 million shares worth more than $2.3 billion at the end of the year.
It then sold 10.8 million shares in this year's first quarter and another 8.7 million in the second quarter.
For the third consecutive quarter, Berkshire reduced its stake in the biopharmaceutical company AbbVie, selling 6.1 million shares that would have been worth $661 million at the end of the third quarter. That was 30% of its holdings.
Like Merck, Berkshire first bought AbbVie during last year's third quarter, added more in the fourth quarter, and then started selling in 2021. But it still holds 14.4 million shares worth almost $1.7 billion at today's close.
Bristol-Myers Squibb is another pharmaceutical that first appeared in Berkshire's portfolio at the end of last year's third quarter, with almost 30 million shares then worth $1.8 billion.
And again, Berkshire bought more in the fourth quarter and then started selling in the new year.
After trimming its stake by 7% in Q1, 15% in Q2, and 16% in Q3, it now holds 22 million shares worth $1.3 billion at today's close.
The pharmaceutical company Organon had a very short stay in Berkshire's portfolio. It sold the 1.6 million shares it first reported holding at the end of Q2. They were valued at $51 million at the end of Q3.  Berkshire did add a new, but relatively small, stake in a drug company. It bought just over 13 million shares of Royalty Pharma, worth $546 million at today's close. It provides funding for the development of biopharmaceuticals by others in exchange for future royalties from the resulting products. It also buys existing royalties.
Berkshire also revealed an even smaller new stake in a non-pharmaceutical. It holds shares currently worth $100 million in Floor & Decor Holdings. The Atlanta-based company sells, appropriately, flooring. It's benefited from pandemic renovations, with a 42% year-to-date gain for its stock.
Souring on cable The biggest decrease for the quarter was Charter Communications. Berkshire's stake decreased by 19% with the sale of 1.0 million shares worth $737 million as of the end of Q3. It hasn't added to the holding since 2016, when it owned 9.4 million shares.
It still has 4.2 million shares worth $2.9 billion at today's close.
Bad timing on Chevron The biggest increase for the quarter was Chevron. Berkshire's holdings of the oil giant increased by 24% with the addition of almost 5.6 million shares worth $566 million at the end of Q3.
It's yet another stock that first appeared in last year's Q3 filing, with 44 million shares then worth $3.2 billion. More than half the stake was sold in this year's first quarter, with a trim in the second quarter.
In the Q3 filing, Berkshire reports holding 28.7 million shares worth $3.2 billion.
Chevron is up more than 32% year-to-date. If Berkshire had not sold any shares during the first half of the year, it would have 54 million shares worth almost $6.1 billion at today's close. 
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BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH
  BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - Nov 19, 2021
 Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly-traded U.S. stocks by market value, based on today's closing prices.
Holdings are as of September 30, 2021 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway's 13F filing on November 15, 2021, except for Apple, Bank of America, and U.S. Bancorp, which also include shares held as of September 30, 2021 as disclosed in New England Asset Management's 13F filing on August 16, 2021.
In addition to U.S. stocks, shares held as of December 31, 2020 of China's BYD, as listed in Buffett's 2020 letter to shareholders, are included. The price of those shares in U.S. trading is used to approximate the current market value of the position. The value of the stake as a percentage of the company's market value is fixed at what was listed as of December 31, 2020 in the letter.
The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
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