Warren Buffett Deals in Existing Stakes in First Quarter

Jun 03, 2015

As one of the most admired investors of all time, Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s actions are followed closely, but those who were looking for clues as to which companies would make good new buys or were prime candidates for selling off were disappointed in the first quarter. Buffett had no new buys nor did he sell any of his stakes in full.

He did add to some stakes in his portfolio and sold portions of others.

Buffett added to two of his three most valuable stakes in the first quarter – Wells Fargo & Co (WFC, Financial), his most valuable stake, and International Business Machines Corp (IBM, Financial), his third-most valuable stake.

Buffett’s purchase of IBM, a New York-based computer hardware and software and IT consulting company, had the greatest impact on his portfolio – 0.39%. He bought 2,593,298 shares for an average price of $158.65 per share.

IBM – which leads the way in U.S. patents so far in 2015 with an average of 152 per week compared to 64 per week for Google (GOOG, Financial) and 42 per week for Apple (AAPL, Financial) – has a market cap of $167.4 billion and an enterprise value of $197.58 billion. It has a P/E of 14.5, a Price/Book of 14.2 and a Price/Sales of 1.9.

Buffett’s investment in Wells Fargo had the second-greatest impact on his portfolio (0.35%). Buffett bought 6,834,236 shares of the San Francisco-based banking and financial services company for an average price of $54.04 per share.

Buffett also added to his sixth-most valuable stake – U.S. Bancorp (USB, Financial) – in the first quarter. He acquired 3,678,893 shares of the Minneapolis-based banking and financial services company for an average price of $43.79 per share. The transaction had a 0.15% impact on his portfolio.

Buffett also added to existing stakes in Precision Castparts Corp (PCP, Financial), Phillips 66 (PSX, Financial), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA, Financial) and Deere & Co (DE, Financial).

Reductions

Buffett reduced his holdings in eight companies in the first quarter. The reduction with the greatest impact on his portfolio was his sale of 3,279,490 shares of National Oilwell Varco Inc (NOV, Financial) for an average price of $54.23. The sale had a -0.2% impact on his portfolio.

Buffett also reduced his stake in his 18th-most valuable stake, Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK, Financial), a Manhattan-based banking and financial services company, selling 1,332,183 shares for an average price of $38.95 per share. The sale had a -0.05% impact on Buffett’s portfolio.

Buffett also sold portions of his stakes in Viacom Inc (VIAB, Financial), Charter Communications Inc (CHTR), Liberty Global PLC (LBTYA), Wabco Holdings Inc (WBC), MasterCard Inc (MA) and Visa Inc (V).

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