Today's the day -- the day we get to see what Warren Buffett is buying or selling for Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.40%) (BRK.B -0.31%).
Here's the scoop from Berkshire Hathaway's latest 13F filing.
Potential Buffett sightings
Generally, investment decisions by Buffett are marked by billion-dollar transaction sizes.
This quarter, Berkshire added to only three of its largest holdings. The purchases aren't of the scale you normally see from Buffett, however, and could very well be the product of Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
|
Stock |
Shares purchased |
Change in shares owned |
|---|---|---|
|
IBM (NYSE: IBM) |
233,100 |
<1% |
|
Wal-Mart (WMT -0.03%) |
8,568,679 |
17% |
|
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) |
705,796 |
<1% |
Source: SEC filings
The remaining positions transactions are smaller in size, and thus can be safely attributed to Ted Weschler and Todd Combs.
|
Stock |
Shares purchased or sold |
Change in shares owned |
|---|---|---|
|
DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) |
Sold 2,000,000 |
-5% |
|
DaVita (NYSE: DVA) |
Bought 1,159,858 |
3% |
|
General Motors (NYSE: GM) |
Sold 10,000,000 |
-25% |
|
Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) |
Sold 17,422,615* |
-64% |
|
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) |
Bought 724,134 |
6% |
|
Verizon Communications (VZ 1.42%) |
Bought 11,022,743 |
New position |
|
Liberty Global Class A (NASDAQ: LBTYA) |
Bought 4,398,683 |
149% |
|
Liberty Global Class B (NASDAQ: LBTYK) |
Bought 7,346,968 |
New position |
|
Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA) |
Sold 2,622,340 |
-57% |
* Phillips 66 shares were likely reduced in a transaction to swap Berkshire's stake in the company for full ownership of Phillips 66's pipeline services business.
Still on the hunt
Warren Buffett wasn't particularly active in the first quarter, following a shift in the business toward acquisitions of whole businesses, not publicly traded stocks.
Buffett's partner, Charlie Munger, explained how Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio is changing at the latest shareholders meeting:
What's happening is that the owned businesses are becoming a bigger and bigger percent of Berkshire. Earlier we had a bigger percent ownership of common stocks. Now the private companies are worth way more than the stocks. And I would guess that will continue.
Buffett, it seems, is still on the hunt for elephants. Changes in Berkshire's largest holdings were mundane, at best -- evidence that Buffett may be looking for a big acquisition than to acquire a few more million shares of another public company.
