Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway asked regulators to keep its new stock purchase secret for a second quarter in a row, while the conglomerate trimmed its massive Apple stake slightly in the fourth quarter, according to a new regulatory filing. Berkshire requested that the Securities and Exchange Commission keep the details of one or more of its stock holdings confidential. Many speculated that the secret purchase could be a bank stock as the 10Q filing for the third quarter suggested that Berkshire had purchased "banks, insurance, and finance" stocks for $1.2 billion. Apple, Chevron The Omaha-based conglomerate sold about 10 million Apple shares last quarter, the filing showed. HP, Paramount Berkshire significantly reduced its stake in Paramount , holding about 63.3 million shares at the end of December, or 32% fewer shares than the number in the previous quarter.

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Persons: Warren, Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's, Buffett, homebuilder D.R.Horton, Ted Weschler, Todd Combs Organizations: Berkshire, Securities and Exchange Commission, Chevron, Verizon, Apple, HP, Paramount, Paramount Global, Liberty, Occidental Petroleum Locations: Berkshire, Chevron The Omaha, Paramount Berkshire, New York, Houston