Berkshire Hathaway 2nd Quarter 2013 13F-HR

The Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa) 2nd Quarter 13F-HR was released yesterday. Below is a summary of the changes that were made to the Berkshire equity portfolio.
(For a convenient comparison, here's a post from last quarter that summarizes Berkshire's 1st Quarter 13F-HR.)

There was plenty of buying and selling during the quarter. Here's a quick summary of the changes:*

New Positions
Suncor (SU): Bought 17.8 million shares worth $ 581.4 million
Dish (DISH): 547 thousand shares worth $ 24.5 million

Added to Existing Positions
Wells Fargo (WFC): Bought 4.96 million shares worth $ 213.8 million, total stake now $ 20.0 billion
U.S. Bancorp (USB): 16.8 million shares worth $ 621.8 million, total stake $ 2.9 billion
General Motors (GM): 15.0 million shares worth $ 533.6 million, total stake $ 1.4 billion
BNY Mellon (BK): 5.7 million shares worth $ 175.1 million, total stake $ 756.3 million
National Oilwell Varco (NOV): 1.4 million shares worth $ 102.4 million, total stake $ 651.8 million
Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI): 3.0 million shares worth $ 183.7 million, total stake $ 576.9 million
Verisign (VRSN): 2.7 million shares worth $ 134.1 million, total stake $ 536.7 million

Not all of the activity has been disclosed. In the 2nd quarter of 2013, apparently some activity was kept confidential. Berkshire's 13F-HR filing says"Confidential information has been omitted from the public Form 13F report and filed separately with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission."

Occasionally, the SEC allows Berkshire to keep certain moves in the portfolio confidential. The permission is granted by the SEC when a case can be made that the disclosure may cause buyers to drive up the price before Berkshire makes its additional purchases.

This makes sense because the total value of disclosed purchases in this 13F-HR do not come close to equaling the total purchases indicated by the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows in their latest quarterly results.

Reduced Positions
Moody's (MCO): Sold 3.5 million shares worth $ 228.8 million, total stake now $ 1.6 billion
Mondelez International (MDLZ): 6.5 million shares worth $ 204.6 million, total stake $ 18.3 million
Kraft Foods Group (KRFT): 1.4 million shares worth $ 77.8 million, total stake $ 10.6 million
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): 34.5 thousand shares worth $ 1.8 million, total stake $ 76.6 million

Sold Positions
Gannett (GCI): Sold the remaining 1.7 million shares worth $ 44.6 million

Todd Combs and Ted Weschler are responsible for an increasingly large number of the moves in the Berkshire equity portfolio, even if they still manage only a small percentage of the overall portfolio.

These days, any changes involving smaller positions will generally be the work of the two portfolio managers.

Top Five Holdings
After the changes, Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio of equity securities remains dominated by financials, consumer stocks, and technology (primarily IBM).

1. Wells Fargo (WFC) = $ 20.0 billion
2. Coca-Cola (KO) = $ 15.8 billion
3. IBM (IBM) = $ 12.8 billion
4. American Express (AXP) = $ 11.5 billion
5. Procter and Gamble (PG) = $ 4.3 billion

As is almost always the case, it's a very concentrated portfolio. The top five often represent 60-70 percent and, at times, even more of the equity portfolio. In addition to the above equities, Berkshire owns additional equity securities listed on exchanges outside the U.S.**, plus cash and cash equivalents, fixed income, and other investments. The combined portfolio value (equities, bonds, cash, and other investments) was roughly $ 200 billion at the end of the most recent quarter.

The above portfolio, of course, excludes all the operating businesses that Berkshire owns outright with ~ 290,000 employees. That list of businesses includes: GEICO, General Re, National Indemnity, MidAmerican Energy, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, McLane Company, The Marmon Group, Shaw Industries, Benjamin Moore, Johns Manville, Acme Building, MiTek, Fruit of The Loom, Russel Athletic Apparel, NetJets, Nebraska Furniture Mart, See's Candy, Dairy Queen, The Pampered Chef, Business Wire, Iscar Metalworking, Lubrizol, Oriental Trading Company and the recent investment in Heinz (among others).

The insurance businesses have naturally provided plenty of "float" for all these investments over time and continue to do so.

Adam

* All values calculated below are based upon yesterday's closing price.
** Berkshire Hathaway's holdings of ADRs are included in the 13F-HR. What is not included are the shares listed on exchanges outside the United States. The status of those shares (POSCO, Sanofi, Tesco PLC, etc.) is updated in the annual letter. Things like the preferred shares in Bank of America are also not included in the 13F-HR. The only way any these stocks listed on exchanges outside the U.S. will show up in the 13F-HR is if Berkshire happens to buy the ADR.
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Berkshire Hathaway 2nd Quarter 2013 13F-HR
Berkshire Hathaway 2nd Quarter 2013 13F-HR
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