By Callum Keown

Can a Berkshire Hathaway without Warren Buffett at the helm still move stocks? You bet.

UnitedHealth shares were down 6% ahead of the open Monday after Berkshire disclosed that it exited its position in the health insurer in the first quarter. The investment group bought 5 million shares of UnitedHealth last year amid the healthcare company's sharp selloff.

It's 13-F filing covers the first quarter since Greg Abel became CEO and Buffett moved to the role of chairman.

It seems that Berkshire eliminated nearly all of its equity holdings run by former manager Todd Combs, Barron's reported Sunday. UnitedHealth is widely believed to have been a Combs stock.

Nonetheless, the exit is still hitting the shares and in turn dragging down Dow futures.

The timing of the move means Berkshire may have left some potential gains on the table. The stock tumbled 18% in the first three months of the year but has jumped 46% so far in the second quarter, as of Friday's close.

The Buffett influence still works in the other direction, too. Berkshire opened up a new $3 billion position in Delta Air Lines, and a smaller one in Macy's. The airline was up more than 2%, while the department store chain jumped more than 5% in premarket trading.

Not everything Berkshire touched in the first quarter is turning to gold Monday, though. Alphabet stock pointed 0.5% lower despite Berkshire's big increase in its stake in the Google parent. But the stock has had an impressive recent run, already up 38% since the beginning of April.

With Buffett still on the scene and having some say, investors are still reacting to Berkshire's stock trades. That looks set to continue.

Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com

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May 18, 2026 07:24 ET (11:24 GMT)

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