Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B), the multinational conglomerate controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett made two new investments for during the first quarter based on its 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
New stock holdings
During the period, Buffett’s conglomerate acquired 7,346,968 shares of Liberty Global plc – Class C Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:LBTYK). Its stake in the company has a market value of $299.095 million.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) also purchased 11,022,743 shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ). Its stake in the communications, information and entertainment products and services provider is worth $524.352 million.
Increased positions
Buffett’s conglomerate increased its stake in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 8,568,678 shares bring its stake in the retail giant to 58,052,412 shares with a market of more than $4.36 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) bought additional 1,159,858 shares of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA), a kidney dialysis treatment provider. Its total stake in the company is now 37,621,152 shares worth over $2.59 billion.
Ted Weschler, one of the portfolio managers of Buffett was responsible in investing in DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA). Last March, Weschler stated that he remained bullish on the kidney dialysis treatment provider citing the reason that it meets the three criteria it is looking for when investing in the health care sector such as providing care that can’t be found elsewhere, making the total cost of health care cheaper because of the services it provides, and the company is managed by a talented team that delivers substantial return on capital.
During the period, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (BRK.B) raised its stake in International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) by 233,100 shares to 68,355,084 shares worth over $13.157 billion and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 705,796 shares to 80,026,597 shares worth more than $3.429 billion.
Reduced stock holdings
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) reduced its stake in General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) by 10 million shares to 30 million shares. Its stake in the automaker is worth more than $1.03 billion.
It also cut its position in Phillips 66 by (NYSE:PSX) by 17,422,615 shares and DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) by 2 million share. The conglomerate still owns 9,741,303 shares of Phillips 66 worth around $750.66 million and 34,514,700 shares in DIRECTV worth about $2.63 billion.
Top three positions
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) remained the largest stock holding of Buffett’s conglomerate with 436,458,123 shares with a market value of around $23.052 billion followed by The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) 400 million shares worth about $14.464 million. Its stake in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) remained at 151,610,700 shares worth approximately $13.64 billion.
The stock portfolio of Buffett’s conglomerate has a total market value of $105,772,705,000 billion for the first quarter based on its regulatory filing.
