Berkshire Hathaway’s Portfolio Changes in Second Quarter 2013
According to its SEC Form 13F filing released this morning, Berkshire Hathaway’s largest purchases during the second quarter of 2013 were an initial investment currently valued at $600 million in the Canadian oil and natural gas producer Suncor (SU), a $600 million (current value) addition to its total position of $2.9 billion in US Bancorp (USB), and a $500 million (current value) addition to its total stake of $1.4 billion in General Motors (GM). Smaller additions were made to previous investments in Chicago Bridge and Iron (CBI), Verisign (VRSN), Bank of New York Mellon (BK), Wells Fargo (WFC), National Oilwell Varco (NOV), and DaVita (DVA). The additions to WFC and USB were apparently made by Warren Buffett. Each of the other transactions are believed to have been made by Warren Buffett’s new portfolio managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
Berkshire also noted that confidential information was omitted from the 13F filing. This probably indicates that Warren Buffett is accumulating a multi-billion dollar position in a large publicly traded company (“commercial or industrial” – SEC Form 10Q filing). The last time Berkshire requested confidential treatment was in 2011 when it was investing $10 billion in IBM.
Berkshire also reduced its minor stakes in Kraft (KRFT) and Mondelez (MDLZ), and eliminated its holding in Gannett (GCI).
I am quoted in a Bloomberg article on this topic:
“His portfolio has been moving up nicely,” said David Kass, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business who has taken students to meet Buffett in Omaha. His allocation to stocks “not only has been the right strategy until now, it’s very likely to be the right strategy going forward.”
The entire article is available at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-15/buffett-s-berkshire-discloses-suncor-dish-stakes.html
