Berkshire Hathaway Increases Stake in Phillips 66 by $570 Million

In SEC Form 4 filings, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) has disclosed that on each of the first eight trading days of 2016, through January 13, it has added to its stake in Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) at prices of $75 – $80 per share.  Berkshire has accounted for an average of 25 percent of the volume of PSX shares on four of those days.  This additional investment of approximately $570 million has resulted in Berkshire owning 69.0 million shares of Phillips 66, or 12.9 percent of its outstanding shares.  Berkshire’s stake in Phillips 66, at its closing price of $78.47 on January 15, is valued at $5.4 billion.

Berkshire has been reporting its updated holding with a two-day lag.  Since it holds over 10 percent of the shares of Phillips 66, it is required to report changes to its position on SEC Form 4.  Berkshire first revealed owning over 10 percent of Phillips 66 stock in August, 2015.  This month’s purchases are the first Berkshire has made since September.  It is likely that this additional investment in Phillips 66 was made by Warren Buffett’s portfolio managers, Todd Combs and/or Ted Weschler.