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Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Almost Doubles Wal-Mart Holdings During Summer

Published: Monday, 16 Nov 2009 | 4:38 PM ET
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By: Alex Crippen
Executive Producer

Buffett Bets on Frugal Consumers

In what appears to be a bet consumers will stick with discount retailers even after the economy rebounds, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway increased its Wal-Mart holdings by almost 90 percent during the summer.

It added almost 18 million shares, currently worth almost $1 billion, in the third quarter. 

An SEC filing detailing Berkshire's stock holdings as of September 30 shows its Wal-Mart [WMT  Loading...      ()   ] stake going to 37.84 million shares, up from 19.9 million shares as of June 30.

At today's closing price of $53.56, Berkshire's Wal-Mart stake is worth just over $2 billion.  That's less than one percent of Wal-Mart's total market value of about $205 billion.

Berkshire's filing also reveals a new stake of 3.4 million shares in the ADRs of Nestle. [NSRGY  Loading...      ()   ]  It's valued at $161 million as of today's close.

Berkshire also added a new, relatively small stake, in ExxonMobil [XOM  Loading...      ()   ].  It held almost 1.3 million shares, currently worth about $95 million, as of September 30.  A smaller stake of 854,490 shares as of June 30 was also revealed in a separate filing today.  It was not included three months ago in Berkshire's original filing for the second quarter.

That filing, like today's, said some "confidential information has been omitted" from the public report, but had been "filed separately" with the SEC. 

Among the other changes:

  • Small stake in Travelers [TRV  Loading...      ()   ] added: 27-thousand shares worth about $1.5 million.

  • Small stake in the solid waste disposal company Republic Services [RSG  Loading...      ()   ] added: 3.6 million shares worth about $96 million.

  • Wells Fargo [WFC  Loading...      ()   ] holdings up 3.6 percent to 313.36 million shares.

  • ConocoPhillips [COP  Loading...      ()   ] stake decreased by roughly 7 million shares during the third quarter.
    Berkshire Portfolio


  • NRG Energy [NRG  Loading...      ()   ] holdings decreased almost 17 percent to 6 million shares.

  • SunTrust Banks [STI  Loading...      ()   ] stake trimmed by just under 4 percent to 3.08 million shares.

  • Slight decrease in Wellpoint [WLP  Loading...      ()   ] holdings to just under 3.4 million shares.

  • Wabco Holding [WBC  Loading...      ()   ] stake of 2.7 million shares and Eaton [ETN  Loading...      ()   ] stake of 2 million shares eliminated.

The total market value of Berkshire's U.S. stock portfolio increased to $56.55 billion as of September 30.  That's 15.5 percent higher than June 30's $48.95 billion.

The portfolio is valued at almost $60.7 billion based on today's closing prices, excluding the stakes in Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific that Buffett says have been sold to "facilitate" Berkshire's planned acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe.  That deal was announced on November 3. 

CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker has been updated with the information in today's SEC filing.



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