Warren Buffett's Berkshire Slashes Walmart, Buys 3 Stocks and Airlines in Q4

Buffett reported a number of changes to his portfolio

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Feb 14, 2017
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Though he campaigned for Hillary Clinton, financier Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) divulged that he bought a lot of stocks following the election of President Donald Trump, and on Tuesday he revealed what they were.

The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial) started three new positions, in Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV, Financial), Monsanto Co. (MON, Financial) and Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI, Financial). He (or one of his managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs) also continued his liking for airlines, amassing more shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL, Financial), United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL, Financial) and American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL, Financial).

Berkshire’s other increases were to Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial) and Bank of New York Mellon (BK, Financial).

Stocks Buffett sold were: Liberty Media Group (FWONA), Lee Enterprises Inc. (LEE), Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI), Liberty Media Group (FWONK), Now Inc. (DNOW), Deere & Co. (DE). He sold all but 0.01% of Verizon (VZ) and slashed Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, Financial) by 89.26%.

Berkshire’s New Buys

Southwest Airlines (LUV)

Berkshire bought 43,203,775 shares of Southwest Airlines, which traded at an average price around $45 for the quarter. It had a 1.46% portfolio weight.

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Southwest Airlines has a market cap of $34.03 billion; its shares were traded around $55.31 with a P/E ratio of 15.61 and P/S ratio of 1.72. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Southwest Airlines stocks is 0.68%. The forward dividend yield of Southwest Airlines stocks is 0.72%. Southwest Airlines had an annual average earnings growth of 16.70% over the past 10 years.

Monsanto Co. (MON, Financial)

Berkshire bought 8,041,784 shares of Monsanto, which traded around $103 per share in the quarter. It has a 0.57% portfolio weight.

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Monsanto has a market cap of $47.2 billion; its shares were traded around $107.63 with a P/E ratio of 29.09 and P/S ratio of 3.42. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Monsanto stocks is 2.01%. The forward dividend yield of Monsanto stocks is 2.01%. Monsanto had an annual average earnings growth of 9.40% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Monsanto the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.

Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI, Financial)

Berkshire bought 166,638,941 shares of Sirius XM Holdings, which had an average price around $4 for the quarter. It had a 0.5% portfolio weight.

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Sirius XM Holdings has a market cap of $22.35 billion; its shares were traded around $4.74 with a P/E ratio of 33.86 and P/S ratio of 4.72. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Sirius XM Holdings stocks is 0.42%. The forward dividend yield of Sirius XM Holdings stocks is 0.84%. Sirius XM Holdings had an annual average earnings growth of 18.90% over the past five years.

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