Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Boosts J&J Stake by a Billion Dollars

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 73 percent between March 31 and June 30, adding 17.4 million shares worth just over $1 billion at today's closing price of $58.01.

Berkshire's holdings in J&J have ranged from a high of 61.75 million shares as recently as September 30, 2008 to a low of 23.89 million shares at the end of this year's first quarter.

In his annual letter to shareholders in February, Buffett said that his largest sales of 2009, including Johnson & Johnson, helped pay for other non-stock purchases, including its acquisition of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight railroad.

But he said the sales were not motivated by a belief the stocks would fall in price. "Charlie (Munger) and I believe that all of these stocks will likely trade higher in the future."

J&J shares fell from a high of just over $66 in mid-April to trade around $58-$59 in June, and Buffett presumably took advantage of that decline to buy the stock.

NEW FISERV STAKE

Berkshire added a new 4.4 million share stake in financial data services company Fiserv during the second quarter.

At today's 4p ET closing price of $50.07 (up 1.8% ahead of the news), Berkshire's stake in Fiserv is worth just over $220 million.

The stock is adding to the day's gains in after-hours trading, up 2.3 percent to $51.20 as of 4:30p ET today.

Wisconsin-based Fiserv, founded in 1984, describes itself as "the leading global provider of information management and electronic commerce systems for the financial services industry."

OTHER MOVES

Berkshire also increased its stakes in:

• Becton Dickinson, up 145,761 shares (+8.4%) to 1,889,889 shares
  
  
  
• Iron Mountain, up 205,200 shares (+2.6%) to 8,000,000 shares
  
  
  
• Nalco Holding, up 150,000 shares (+1.7%) to 9,150,000 shares
  
  
  
• Sanofi Aventis, up 159,742 shares (+4.1%) to 4,063,675 shares
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Holdings were trimmed for:

• ConocoPhillips, down 5,069,612 shares (-14.8%) to 29,109,637 shares
  
  
  
• Kraft Foods, down 1,520,161 shares (-1.4%) to 105,214,584 shares
  
  
• M&T Bank Corp, down 199,460 shares (-3.6%) to 5,363,821 shares
  
  
  
• Procter & Gamble, down 1,025,748 shares (-1.3%) to 78,071,036 shares, as foreshadowed in Berkshire's Q2 10-Q filing with the SEC.
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Our Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Trackerhas been updated to reflect the new data.

Current Berkshire stock prices:

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