When you are the co-founder of the world’s largest personal computer company – Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) – and one of the world’s wealthiest people, it is not necessary for you to make many stock moves in a quarter unless you feel compelled to do so. Apparently, Gates did not feel so compelled in the first quarter. He made only three transactions, and two of them were sales.
Gates’ sale of 5,000,000 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.B, Financial), Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s Nebraska-based multinational holding company, was easily his largest transaction of the quarter. Gates received an average price of $147.14 per share, and Berkshire Hathaway remains both the largest and the most valuable stake in his portfolio – again, easily. The deal had a -3.75% impact on his portfolio.
Berkshire Hathaway has a market cap of $335.66 billion and an enterprise value of $359.12 billion. It has a P/E of 16.8, a Price/Book of 1.4 and a Price/Sales of 1.7. Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), Ruane Cunniff (Trades, Portfolio), David Rolfe (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Russo (Trades, Portfolio), Lou Simpson (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Gayner (Trades, Portfolio), Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio), Charles de Vaulx (Trades, Portfolio), Chuck Akre (Trades, Portfolio), Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio), Arnold Van Den Berg (Trades, Portfolio), Bruce Berkowitz (Trades, Portfolio), Scott Black (Trades, Portfolio), Ronald Muhlenkamp (Trades, Portfolio), John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Zeke Ashton (Trades, Portfolio), Whitney Tilson (Trades, Portfolio), Prem Watsa (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox, Donald Yacktman (Trades, Portfolio), Bill Frels (Trades, Portfolio), Manning & Napier Advisors, Inc, Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio), Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio), Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio) Global Value, Wintergreen Fund (Trades, Portfolio) and Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Berkshire Hathaway in their portfolios. Mason Hawkins (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) and Mohnish Pabrai (Trades, Portfolio) sold their stakes in the first quarter.
Gates added to his existing stake in Liberty Global PLC (LBTYK, Financial), a Colorado-based international telecommunications and television company, in the first quarter. He bought 106,820 shares for an average price of $48.96 per share. The transaction, which made Liberty Global the 12th-largest stake and the 15th-most valuable one in Gates’ possession, had a 0.03% impact on his portfolio.
Liberty Global has a market cap of $47.55 billion and an enterprise value of $92.16 billion. It has a Price/Book of 3.8 and a Price/Sales of 2.4. Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox, Chase Coleman (Trades, Portfolio), First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio), Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio), Daniel Loeb (Trades, Portfolio), Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio), John Griffin (Trades, Portfolio), Lou Simpson (Trades, Portfolio), David Einhorn (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio), Larry Robbins (Trades, Portfolio), John Burbank (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Columbia Wanger (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Scott Black (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio) and Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Liberty Global in their portfolios. Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio), John Hussman (Trades, Portfolio) and Manning & Napier Advisors, Inc, sold their stakes in Liberty Global in the first quarter.
Gates sold his stake in Diamond Foods Inc (DMND, Financial), a Stockton, California-based packaged foods company. He had 10,412 shares that he bought in the previous quarter which he sold for an average price of $28.13 per share. The sale had a -0.0015% impact on his portfolio.
Diamond Foods has a market cap of $896 million and an enterprise value of $1.49 billion. It has a Price/Book of 3.2 and a Price/Sales of 1.0. Howard Marks (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Robert Bruce (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Diamond Foods in their portfolios. RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio) sold its stake in the first quarter.
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