Berkshire Hathaway Acquires More Liberty SiriusXM Shares Again

We've highlighted recently that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has been buying Liberty Sirius XM (LSXMA / LSXMK). Well, they're at it again.

Per Form 4's filed with the SEC, Berkshire acquired 377,656 shares of LSXMA across May 26th, 30th, and 31st at weighted average prices around $41.xx. After these buys, they own over 14.86 million LSXMA shares.

The second Form 4 indicates they also bought 644,172 LSXMK shares on May 26th, 30th, and 31st at weighted average prices ranging from $40.9877 to $41.7432. After these buys, they own over 31 million LSXMK shares.

We've also previously noted that it seems likely that Berkshire's portfolio manager Ted Weschler is the one buying here.

For more on Berkshire Hathaway, check out a recent interview with Warren Buffett here.

Per Google Finance, Liberty SiriusXM is "Liberty Media Corporation owns interests in subsidiaries and other companies, which are engaged in the media and entertainment industries. The Company's principal businesses and assets include its consolidated subsidiaries Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRIUS XM) and Braves Holdings, LLC (Braves Holdings), and its equity affiliate Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (Live Nation). The Company's segments are SIRIUS XM, and Corporate and other. SIRIUS XM provides a subscription-based satellite radio service. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, the Company principally operates in North America. The Company also owns a portfolio of minority equity investments in publicly traded media companies, including Time Warner, Inc. and Viacom, Inc. SIRIUS XM transmits music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk, news, traffic and weather channels, as well as infotainment services, in the United States on a subscription fee basis through two satellite radio systems."

Berkshire Hathaway Adds To Liberty SiriusXM Again

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has filed two separate Form 4's with the SEC regarding its position in two share classes of Liberty SiriusXM (LSXMA / LSXMK). 

Per the filing, Berkshire was buying shares of both on May 18th, 19th, and 22nd.  They acquired 492,156 shares of LSXMA at weighted average prices ranging from $37.1826 to $38.8041.  After these buys, they owned over 14.15 million LSXMA shares.

They also bought 679,930 shares of LSXMK at weighted average prices ranging from $36.8074 to $38.5003.  After these purchases, they now own over 29.77 million LSXMK shares.

This is the second month in a row that Berkshire has bought LSXMA / LSXMK shares.  We highlighted then how Ted Weschler (one of Berkshire's portfolio managers) seems to be the lead investor here.

For more from Berkshire, be sure to check out a recent interview with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.

Per Google Finance, Liberty SiriusXM is "Liberty Media Corporation owns interests in subsidiaries and other companies, which are engaged in the media and entertainment industries. The Company's principal businesses and assets include its consolidated subsidiaries Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRIUS XM) and Braves Holdings, LLC (Braves Holdings), and its equity affiliate Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (Live Nation). The Company's segments are SIRIUS XM, and Corporate and other. SIRIUS XM provides a subscription-based satellite radio service. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, the Company principally operates in North America. The Company also owns a portfolio of minority equity investments in publicly traded media companies, including Time Warner, Inc. and Viacom, Inc. SIRIUS XM transmits music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk, news, traffic and weather channels, as well as infotainment services, in the United States on a subscription fee basis through two satellite radio systems." 

Berkshire Hathaway Buys More Liberty SiriusXM

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has submitted a couple of Form 4's with the SEC regarding its position in Liberty Sirius XM (LSXMA / LSXMK). 

Per the filings, Berkshire was out buying both the Series C stock (LSXMK) and the Series A stock (LSXMA).  They purchased over 3.87 million LSXMK shares across April 20th, 21st, and 24th at weighted average prices between $38.7043 and $40.62.  After these buys, Berkshire now owns 27.23 million shares of LSXMK.

They also bought over 2.47 million LSXMA shares in total across the same dates at weighted average prices between $38.6046 and $40.795.  After these buys, they now own over 13.15 million LSXMA shares.

Liberty Media's Greg Maffei also tweeted: "Nice to have Berkshire, Warren B, and Ted Weschler step up their $LSXMA investment.  Thanks.  $SIRI. #hearmysiri." And then followed it up with: "Forgot to bow to altar: $BRK.A #OmahaRules."

Given that Ted Weschler was mentioned as the investor involved in this name, it seems natural to draw similarities to a past position of his.  At his old hedge fund Peninsula, Weschler previously owned DirecTV and a large part of the thesis there was a levered buyback.  Given that Sirius XM seems to be following a similar playbook, it seems plausible that this is one of the reasons Weschler is attracted to this name as there are some similarities.  Not to mention, Sirius XM has grown subscribers consistently over the past 7 years.

Per Google Finance, Liberty Sirius XM "owns interests in subsidiaries and other companies, which are engaged in the media and entertainment industries. The Company's principal businesses and assets include its consolidated subsidiaries Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRIUS XM) and Braves Holdings, LLC (Braves Holdings), and its equity affiliate Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (Live Nation). The Company's segments are SIRIUS XM, and Corporate and other. SIRIUS XM provides a subscription-based satellite radio service. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, the Company principally operates in North America. The Company also owns a portfolio of minority equity investments in publicly traded media companies, including Time Warner, Inc. and Viacom, Inc. SIRIUS XM transmits music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk, news, traffic and weather channels, as well as infotainment services, in the United States on a subscription fee basis through two satellite radio systems. "

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Boosts Phillips 66 Stake

Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway has filed a Form 3 and Form 4 with the SEC.  Per the filing, Berkshire now owns over 57.9 million shares of Phillips 66 (PSX).

Berkshire was out buying on August 26th - 28th at prices between $71.56 and $77.26.  In total, they bought over 3.17 million shares over those three days.  They now own over 10% of the company with a stake worth over $4.4 billion.

However, they had to have also acquired a ton of shares prior to that.  As the brand new issue of our Hedge Fund Wisdom newsletter flagged 10 days ago, Buffett requested confidential treatment with the SEC regarding one of his holdings for his Q2 13F filing.  PSX did not appear in his holdings list at that time so it looks like this could be the position he was requesting privacy on.

Back in the first quarter of this year, Buffett owned just 7.49 million PSX shares.  So basically between April 1st and August 28th, Berkshire ramped up its exposure to PSX in a big way.  Shares largely traded sideways over that timeframe, between $75 and $84.  During the recent market turmoil, however, they traded as low as $69.79.

Buffett has been busy lately, as he's also agreed to takeover Precision Castparts (PCP).

For more on Buffett's firm, be sure to also check out our analysis of Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA), another stock Berkshire bought in recent months.

Berkshire Hathaway Increases Verisign Position

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has filed an amended 13G with the SEC.  Per the filing, Berkshire Hathaway no owns 10.4% of the company with 12,985,000 shares.

This marks an increase of over 1.29 million shares since the end of the first quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on July 31st.

This investment was likely originally made by Buffett's newest portfolio managers: Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.  Since they've joined, Berkshire has accumulated shares.  Thus far this year, VRSN has slipped from $62.95 down to a low of $46.45 before rebounding slightly to current levels of $54.84.

Verisign has been hit with a bit of uncertainty as news came out earlier in the year that the US Department of Commerce will relinquish control of ICANN.

Per Google Finance, Verisign "is a provider of Internet infrastructure services. The Company provides network confidence and availability for mission-critical Internet services, such as domain name registry services and infrastructure assurance services. Its service capabilities enable real-time name resolution for a number of global top level domains (TLDs), enable domain name registration through registrars, and provide security intelligence and cloud-based network availability services to enterprise customers. It has one reportable segment is Naming Services, which consists of Registry Services and Network Intelligence and Availability (NIA) Services. It has operations inside as well as outside the United States (U.S.). Registry Services operates the authoritative directory of all .com, .net, .cc, .tv, and .name domain names and the back-end systems for all .gov, .jobs and .edu domain names."

For more, check out notes from Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting as well as Warren Buffett's annual letter.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Acquires More DaVita Shares

In a Form 4 filed with the SEC, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has revealed new purchases in shares of DaVita (DVA). 

On November 6th, 7th, and 8th, Berkshire acquired 3,700,294 shares in total at prices ranging from $52.78 to $56.41.

After all was said and done, Berkshire now owns 35,147,124 shares of DaVita.  Keep in mind that the company had a 2-for-1 stock split on September 6th of this year.

This has been a position Berkshire has been heavily adding to ever since new portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler came onboard.  We've highlighted Berkshire's purchases of DVA shares earlier this year in the summer, as well as in 2012.

Per Google Finance, DaVita is "a provider of dialysis services in the United States for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure, also known as end stage renal disease (ESRD)."

For more on Berkshire, head to a recent interview with Warren Buffett where he said stocks are fairly priced.

Berkshire Hathaway Buys More DaVita (DVA)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway filed a form 4 with the SEC regarding their position in DaVita (DVA).  Per the filing, Berkshire has disclosed that they purchased 639,200 shares on July 2nd and 3rd at weighted average prices ranging from $112.35 to $116.41.  After all purchases, Berkshire now owns over 15.6 million shares of DVA.

DaVita shares have recently been hit on news that a proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would decrease payments to dialysis facilities by $970 million in calendar year 2014 (more details here).

Berkshire has been slowly building a large stake in DVA and we've detailed their previous purchases.  This coincided with new portfolio manager Ted Weschler joining the Berkshire team (DVA was a top holding at his previous hedge fund).

Berkshire originally built their position in DaVita between $70-85 it looks like and they've slowly added to the stake each quarter, recently buying at around $110 and now again at the prices outlined above.

Per Google Finance, DaVita is "is a provider of dialysis services in the United States for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure, also known as end stage renal disease (ESRD)."

For more from this manager, we've also highlighted some other recent Berkshire Hathaway portfolio activity.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Files 13G on DaVita (DVA)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has filed a 13G on shares of DaVita (DVA).  Per the filing, they have disclosed a 10.8% ownership stake in the company with 10,197,569 shares. 

This is more of a formality as their position remains unchanged from when we detailed Berkshire's recent Form 4 filing where they disclosed they had purchased more shares in late September. 

This just goes to show why you should track all SEC filings instead of just focusing on the 13G's and 13F's.  The Form 4 was filed last week and already disclosed everything this 13G does a week later. The 13G was required due to portfolio activity on September 21st.

Hedge Funds Own DVA Too

As we mentioned when Berkshire was buying DaVita late last month, this portfolio activity is most likely attributed to new manager Ted Weschler.  DVA was one of his big holdings at his previous hedge fund.

Also, our premium newsletter flagged that DVA was a consensus buy among hedge funds back in August.  Other top holders of shares at the end of Q2 included Viking Global, Lone Pine Capital, Pennant Capital, and more.

Per Google Finance, DaVita is "a provider of dialysis services in the United States for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure, also known as end stage renal disease (ESRD)."

Berkshire Hathaway Buys Phillips 66 (PSX) Shares

Warren Buffett this morning on Bloomberg TV said that his Berkshire Hathaway has invested in Phillips 66 (PSX).  We've also posted up a summary of Buffett's lengthy interview.

PSX was spun-off from ConocoPhillips (COP) on May 1st and Buffett said one of his portfolio managers (either Todd Combs or Ted Weschler) have reduced holdings in COP and bought into the refining operations ~ PSX.

Owners of COP shares received 1 share of PSX for every 2 shares of COP owned as of April 16th.  Berkshire owned just over 29 million COP shares as of March 31st (before the spin-off).  Assuming that number, that would mean they received just over 14.5 million shares of PSX in the spin.

But it sounds like they've gone a step further by selling some of their post-spin COP shares and adding to their PSX stake.

For more from Berkshire Hathaway's leading man, head to notes from Buffett's meeting with MBA students.