Major Changes to Berkshire Hathaway’s Portfolio During Fourth Quarter, 2018

After the market closed on February 14, Berkshire Hathaway released its SEC-13F filing for the quarter ending December 31, 2018.

The largest changes were as follows:

New positions:

(1) Red Hat ($700 million)  (Note: Likely merger arbitrage – IBM to acquire Red Hat in late 2019 at $190 per share in cash.)

(2) Suncor Energy ($300 million)  (Note: Berkshire had a position during the third quarter of 2016.)

(3) StoneCo  ($300 million)  (Note: Previously reported in October, 2018, purchase by Todd Combs.)

Additions to existing positions:

(1) JP Morgan Chase ($1.5 billion = 40% increase)  (Note: Likely purchase by Warren Buffett, Todd Combs is on Board of Directors.)

(2) General Motors ($600 million = 38% increase)  (Note: Likely purchase by Ted Weschler.)

(3) Travelers ($300 million = 68% increase)

(4) PNC Financial ($250 million = 36% increase)

Position eliminated:

(1) Oracle ($2 billion)  (Warren Buffett acknowledged this transaction on February 25 on CNBC.)

Positions reduced:

(1) Apple ($600 million = 1% decrease)

(2) Phillips 66 ($350 million = 23% decrease)

(Note: Berkshire reduced its stake in Apple by about 1%.  According to Reuters, “One of the managers (Todd Combs or Ted Weschler) other than Warren Buffett had a position in Apple and sold part of it in order to make an unrelated purchase,” Buffett’s assistant Debbie Bosanek said in an email. “None of the shares under Warren’s direction have ever been sold.”)