The Tweedy Browne team’s Value Fund increased its stock holdings in Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) by 183,887 shares and Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 55,165 shares during the first quarter of 2013, based on its 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Tweedy Browne’s Value Fund has 47 stocks under management worth $522, 259,000 as of March 31, 2013. The mutual fund owns 603, 260 total shares in Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) and 307,865 total shares in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL). It initially acquired its position in the Halliburton in the previous quarter by acquiring 252,700 shares.
During the quarter, the Tweedy Browne’s Value Fund sold out its entire position in Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC). The mutual fund also reduced its stock holdings in Heineken Holdings NV (PINK:HKHHF) (AMS:HEIO) by 28,640 shares, Diageo Plc (NYSE:DEO) (LON:DGE) by 14,297 shares, and Arca Continental, S.A.B. de C.V (PINK:EMBVF) by 77, 240 shares.
Tweedy Browne’s Value Fund acquired increased its stock holdings in Devon Energy Corp (NYSE:DVN) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the previous quarter by 132,740 shares and 224,575 shares, respectively.
The largest stockholdings of the Value Fund include Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE:NVS) which accounts 4.15 percent followed by ROCHE HLDG AG DIV RT (PINK:RHHVF) and Nestle SA (PINK:NSRGY) (ETR:NESR) (FRA:NESR), both represent 4.14 percent of its portfolio.
Its other major stock holdings include Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and Total SA (ADR) (NYSE:TOT), which represent 3.84 percent and 3.81 percent of its portfolio respectively.
Since its establishment in 1993 until March 31, 2013, Tweedy Browne’s Value Fund generated a cumulative return of 411.93 percent. Last year, the mutual fund recorded 15.45 percent returns.
Forrest Birchard Tweedy first established Tweedy & Co., a dealer in closely held and inactively traded securities in 1920. The company became Tweedy, Browne Company LLC in 1975 as investment advisor and started managing separate accounts for individual and institutions. As of December 31, 2012, Tweedy, Browne has approximately $15.6 billion assets under management across its offshore funds and four mutual funds.
Tweedy Browne’s three other mutual funds include the Global Value Fund, Global Value Fund II, and the Worldwide High Dividend Yield Value Fund.
Last year, the Global Value Fund delivered 18.39 percent returns, the Global Value Fund II posted 17.98 percent returns, and the Worldwide High Dividend Yield Value Fund recorded 12.34 percent returns.
Tweedy Browne uses Benjamin Graham’s approach as its investment strategy.
