(This post is part of our series on tracking hedge fund portfolios. If you're unfamiliar with tracking investments they disclose via SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund filings.)
Next up in our coverage is the Oracle of Omaha himself, Warren Buffett. From his original Buffett Partnerships to present day Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett has invested his way to the third richest person in the world according to Forbes' billionaire list. He needs no introduction so let's dive right into it. Our recent coverage of Buffett's company includes some notes from Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting as well as Berkshire's annual letter. And of course to learn to invest like one of the greatest out there, head to Warren Buffett's recommended reading list. The positions listed below were Berkshire Hathaway's long equity, note, and options holdings as of March 31st, 2010 as filed with the SEC. All holdings are common stock unless otherwise denoted:
Brand New Positions
n/a
Increased Positions
Republic Services (RSG): Increased position by 30.6%
Becton, Dickinson & Co (BDX): Increased by 16.3%
Iron Mountain (IRM): Increased by 11.35%
Reduced Positions
Kraft Foods (KFT): Reduced by 22.8%
Gannett (GCI): Reduced by 20.98%
Costco (COST): Reduced by 17.5%
M&T Bank (MTB): Reduced by 17.1%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): Reduced by 12%
Procter & Gamble (PG): Reduced by 9.6%
Conoco Phillips (COP): Reduced by 9.37%
Carmax (KMX): Reduced by 3.43%
Moody's (MCO): Reduced by 3% (we detailed these sales back when they occurred)
Positions With No Change
American Express (AXP)
Bank of America (BAC)
Coca Cola (KO)
Comcast (CMCSA)
Comdisco Holdings (CDCO)
Exxon Mobil (XOM)
General Electric (GE)
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Home Depot (HD)
Ingersoll-Rand (IR)
Lowe's (LOW)
Nalco Holding (NLC)
Nestle (NSRGY)
Nike (NKE)
Sanofi Aventis (SNY)
Tiffany & Co (TIF)
Torchmark (TMK)
US Bancorp (USB)
USG (USG)
United Parcel Service (UPS)
WalMart (WMT)
Washington Post (WPO)
Wells Fargo (WFC)
Wesco (WSC)
Positions They Sold Out of Completely
SunTrust Bank (STI)
Travelers (TRV)
UnitedHealth (UNH)
Wellpoint (WLP)
Top 15 Holdings (by percentage of assets reported on the 13F filing)
- Coca Cola (KO): 21.6%
- Wells Fargo (WFC): 19.56%
- American Express (AXP): 12.28%
- Procter & Gamble (PG): 9.83%
- Kraft Foods (KFT): 6.34%
- Wesco Financial (WSC): 4.32%
- Walmart (WMT): 4.26%
- US Bancorp (USB): 3.51%
- Conoco Phillips (COP): 3.43%
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): 3.06%
- Moody's (MCO): 1.80%
- Washington Post (WPO): 1.51%
- Nike (NKE): 1.10%
- M&T Bank (MTB): 0.87%
- Republic Services (RSG): 0.62%
It's somewhat rare to see Buffett's Berkshire completely sell out of a position, but this time around he sold multiple holdings in health plays Wellpoint (WLP) and UnitedHealth (UNH). His removal of WLP is intriguing because as you'll see from some of our soon-to-come 13F analyses, many hedge funds still own shares. Buffett also sold partial positions in Procter & Gamble (PG) and Kraft Foods (KFT). Berkshire Hathaway also added to positions in Republic Services (RSG), Becton Dickinson & Co (BDX), as well as Iron Mountain (IRM). RSG was their most sizable increase. Overall, quite a bevy of portfolio activity out of Berkshire Hathaway (at least more than we're used to seeing). As always, to become a great investor like the Oracle of Omaha himself, we point you to as Warren Buffett's recommended reading list. Lastly, those of you wondering about Berkshire Hathaway's future can head to Buffett's thoughts on succession planning.
Data used for this article comes from Alphaclone, our source for sorting through all the hedge fund portfolio movement and backtesting the performance (Market Folly readers can receive a special free 30 day trial). Assets reported on the 13F filing were $50.9 billion this quarter. Remember that these filings are not representative of the investment fund's entire base of AUM. This post is part of our hedge fund portfolio tracking series and we've already detailed the portfolio of Seth Klarman's Baupost Group. Be sure to check back daily for new hedge fund updates.
