Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B), the multinational conglomerate holding company controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett reported its stock holding with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the third quarter ended September 30, 2012.
Based on the 13F filing of the company, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) acquired 3,978,767 shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE), the world’s largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment. The total amount of its holdings in Deere was $3,281, 128,919. The multinational conglomerate also purchased 1,599,064 shares of WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:WBC) worth $92,218,018; Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) 4,646,220 shares worth $24,067,419; and Precision Castparts Corp. (NYSE:PCP) 1,248,901 shares with $203,995,458 market value.
Eli Lustgarten, analyst at Longbow Research, said Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) probably took the opportunity to acquire stakes in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) during the third quarter at the stock price of the company declined to as $72.85 per share. The shares of the Deere closed the quarter at $82.47 per share. Lustgarten emphasized that Deere is attractive to investors because of its long-term outlook. According to him, “We have a massive need to increase productivity in the farm belts of the world.” Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) is a global leader in the agriculture industry, thus, it has a huge room for growth.
During the past three months, Berkshire Hathaway increased its holdings in the following companies:
- Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK) – 914,400 shares
- DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA) – 897,569 shares
- DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) – 1,134,900 shares
- The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) – 200,000,000 shares
- Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) – 794,000 shares
- National Oil Well Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV) – 1,345,600
- Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) – 11,504,300 shares
- International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) – 872,500 shares
Since the fourth quarter of 2011, Buffet’s company continues to increase its stakes in DaVita, a company that provides dialysis treatment to patients with chronic kidney failure known as end stage renal disease (ESRD). The billionaire investor owns 10,197,569 shares or more than 10 percent stake in DaVita, as of September 30. Buffet’s holdings in the company are worth approximately $1.056 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) reduced its positions in the following companies:
- US Bancorp (NYSE:USB) – 4,736,112 shares
- The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) – 6,809,125 shares
- ConocoPhilips (NYSE:COP) – 4,744,726 shares
- Verisk Analytics, Inc, (NASDAQ:VRSK) – 308,437 shares
- VISA Inc (NYSE:V) – 524,200 shares
- Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) – 2,836,040 shares
- Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE) – 2,095,102 shares
- United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) – 202,500 shares
- General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) – 4,419,725 shares
- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) – 9,841,100 shares
Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined by 95.24 percent to 492,028 shares. Analysts observed that Buffet has been dumping his stakes in consumer products. He reduced his stakes in Procter & Gamble by 11.42 percent and Mondelez International by 48.21 percent.
Buffet dumped all his positions in CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE:CVS), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG), and Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE:IR).
Buffet’s top holdings in its portfolio are The Coca Cola Company (NYSE:KO) 20.14 percent, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) 19.37 percent, International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) 18.59 percent, American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) 11.44 percent, and The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) 4.86 percent. The market value of his portfolio for the third quarter was $75,326,616,168.
