Investing

Major Changes in Warren Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway Stocks: American Airlines, Delta, Kinder Morgan, Wal-Mart, BNY Mellon and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 14, 2016 5:10 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 5:49 pm

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) has released its public equity holdings as of September 30, 2016. Outside of Warren Buffett being one of the richest men alive and being considered the greatest investor of modern times, there have been many key changes in the Buffett stocks over recent quarters.

The Berkshire Hathaway quarterly SEC filing for earnings showed that the total equity securities listed on the balance sheet was $100.757 billion as of September 30 (versus $102.563 billion as of June 30). The 13F filing with the SEC showed the balance as of September 30 as $128.8 billion (versus $129.7 billion as of June 30).

24/7 Wall St. and its founders have tracked the major and minor portfolio changes from Buffett’s stock holdings for about two decades now. These are tracked each quarter, and what ends up happening is that these holdings can change drastically through time. The addition of two more portfolio managers in recent years has only made the changes look even more extreme.

Investors need to keep in mind that approximately 60% of the aggregate fair value of the common equity securities is concentrated in just four companies: Wells Fargo at $22.1 billion (versus $23.7 billion in June), IBM at $12.9 billion (versus $12.3 billion  in June), Coca-Cola at $16.9 billion (versus $18.1 billion in June) and American Express at $9.7 billion (versus $9.2 billion in June).

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was the same 151.6 million or so shares, a position that remains perpetually static, whether shares rise or fall. This has been said before, but Buffett has owned Amex for so long it may be cheaper for him to just hold rather than pay capital gains.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) was the exact same stake of 400 million shares. This has been a position that also has remained static, and Buffett has defended his stake here for years.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was listed as 81.232 million shares in September, same as June and March. Still, this Big Blue stake has been raised previously. It was 81.03 million shares as of December 31, about 79.5 million shares as of the end of last June, and the end of 2014 position was 76.971 million IBM shares. Berkshire Hathaway’s 10-Q SEC filing said on IBM:

Unrealized losses at September 30, 2016 included $941 million related to our investment in IBM common stock of which $855 million had been in a continuous unrealized loss position for more than twelve months. Unrealized losses represented 7% of our cost. IBM continues to be profitable and generate significant cash flows. We currently do not intend to dispose of our IBM common stock and we expect that the fair value of this investment will recover and ultimately exceed our cost.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was listed as 479.704 million shares in September, the same as in June and March. This was 470.29 million shares last September. As a reminder, it was documented that Buffett has filed to be allowed to increase his stake north of the 10% threshold with the SEC. He just recently confirmed that he did not sell Wells Fargo shares after the account opening scandal.

Kraft Heinz Co. (NYSE: KHC) was listed as the same 325,634,818 shares, as it was on March 31 and at the end of 2015. This stake is from the 3G Capital deal and is worth $29.1 billion. Please note that the 10-Q filing for September 30 said that the carrying value of this investment was down to $15.711 billion as it had recorded a noncash pretax holding gain of approximately $6.8 billion in 2015.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was an increased stake yet again, rising to 80.689 million shares at the end of September. This stake was 78.782 million shares as of June 30, and it was a 75.55 million share stake in March. This stake previously had been classified as an elimination in 2015 and then was shown after Buffett got the stake classified with the SEC as confidential.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the same 15.227 million shares as of September 30, but it has been increased in June after having been a new position back in the March quarter. The timing here worked rather well and was a stake by the new portfolio managers.

Warren Buffett was also shown to be a new investor in the major airlines. American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was a new stake, and rather unusual considering that Buffett hates airlines (except NetJets of course). Still, this new stake was 21.77 million shares and was worth almost $800 million. United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was also listed as a new stake at 4.533 million shares, worth about $238 million. Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was listed as a new stake of 6.333 million shares, worth some $249.3 million at the end of September. CNBC’s Becky Quick also said that Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) was also a stake that was taken.

Other key holdings were shown as follows in the Berkshire Hathaway quarterly (13F-HR) filing:

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE: AXTA) was the same stake of 23.324 million shares, after having been listed as a new position of 20 million shares.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) was a larger stake again at 21.136 million shares as of September 30. This was previously shown as a 20.827 million shares, up from a prior 20.112 million. That stake was at 24.6 million shares in the past.

Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) was 9.443 million shares, and this position has fluctuated.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was the same stake at 4,333,363 shares.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was the same 38.565 million shares, but this had been on an upward trend prior to Buffett entering into a standstill agreement not to buy more than 25% of the company.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was a slightly smaller stake at 21.085 million shares as of September 30. The prior stake was also smaller at 21.959 million shares, down from 23.28 million shares.

General Electric Corp. (NYSE: GE) was the same stake of 10.585 million shares. This stake was raised in 2014 and had been telegraphed before because of the warrants.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was the same stake of exactly 50 million shares, but this previously had been raised from 41 million shares last year.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was the same stake of 10.959 million shares, but this had been as high as 12.631 million shares prior to the end of 2015.

Graham Holdings Co. (NYSE: GHC) remains the same tiny stake of 107,575 shares in the remains of Washington Post breakup.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was the same tiny stake of only 327,100 shares, but Buffett watchers have known this is a leftover bit from a much larger stake in years past.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was a lower stake and was last seen down at 20 million shares in September, versus 26.533 million shares as of June 30. This was the same stake as in March and was selected by one of Buffett’s portfolio managers rather than on his own.

Lee Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: LEE) was the same tiny stake of only 88,863 shares.

Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LMCA) and Liberty Global PLC (NASDAQ: LBTYA) are both again listed as Buffett and Berkshire Holdings. These are counted as Class A and Class C shares, so we will leave this stakes simplified just like that.

M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) was the same position at 5.382 million shares — same as always.

MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was the same 4.934 million shares as in June and in March, but this was 5,229,756 shares at the end of 2015.

Media General Inc. (NYSE: MEG) was no longer seen on the report as a holding. It had previously been listed as 3.471 million shares.

Mondelez International Inc. (NASDAQ: MDLZ) is the same position again at 578,000 shares, remaining handily lower than in the past and dating back to the Kraft breakup.

Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was the same position of 24.669 million shares yet again, but this stake is still lower than in years past.

NOW Inc. (NYSE: DNOW) was the same stake of 1.825 million shares.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is still a tiny stake of just 315,400 shares, same as in March and in April. This had previously been listed as almost 52.8 million shares in the prior formal 13F report before the Duracell swap. P&G had once peaked at 96.3 million shares in the Buffett stocks.

Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE: QSR) was the same stake at 8.438 million shares. The reality is that this is much larger if you consider the $3 billion in perpetual preferred shares pointed out previously.

Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) was the same position at 3.905 million shares.

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE: SU) does not appear as a holding at the end of September. It had previously been a lower stake at 22.275 million shares. This had been up to 30 million shares previously, but this used to be a smaller stake at 22.35 million last June.

Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) the same stake at 6.353 million shares.

Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (NASDAQ: FOXA) was listed as the same stake of 8.951 million shares, same as at the end of 2015. This stake was raised from 6.228 million shares in prior reports, versus 4.747 million shares at the end of 2014.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was listed as a position of 85.06 million shares at the end of September (same as June), but that stake had been raised slightly before the prior quarters (it was 80.09 million shares at the end of 2014).

USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) was the same stake at just over 39.002 million shares, but this had been raised prior to the end of 2014.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) was the same position of just 59,400 shares, which is way down from 2012.

VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) was the same 12.952 million share stake, but that had been reduced previously from 13.044 after having previously grown in 2014.

Verisk Analytics Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSK) was the same position at 1,563,434 shares, but that is lower than in prior quarters before the last quarter.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was the same stake at 15 million shares as in June and end of March, but that had been raised a year earlier.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) was slightly larger at 10.562 million shares, up from 10.239 million shares at the end June. This was up from 9.885 million shares in 2015. The Visa stake had been raised throughout 2014.

WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE: WBC) was listed as 3.368 million shares and this stake has fluctuated through time.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was a lower stake yet again to 12.9 million or so shares at the end of September. It was previously taken down by more than 15 million shares to 40.226 million by the end of June. The Wal-Mart stake was as high as 60.385 million shares a year ago.