Bill Gates Reduces Position in Berkshire Hathaway

Guru also sells stake in BP

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Mar 17, 2016
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The founder of Microsoft (MSFT, Financial), the world’s largest personal computer software company, Bill Gates (Trades, Portfolio) has an estimated net worth of $83.5 billion, according to Bloomberg.

These days Gates keeps busy mostly with his philanthropic activities and various projects through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was established in 2000, but he still makes at least two stock transactions per quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Gates’ most noteworthy transaction was his reduction, by more than 6%, of his stake in Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B, Financial), an Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate holding company. Gates sold 5 million shares for an average price of $134.28 per share. The deal had a -3.78% impact on Gates’ portfolio.

The remaining stake of 74,381,548 shares is 3.03% of Berkshire Hathaway’s outstanding shares and 58.94% of Gates’ total assets. Gates is Berkshire Hathaway’s leading shareholder among the gurus.

Berkshire Hathaway has a P/E of 14.6, a forward P/E of 15.1, a P/B of 1.4 and a P/S of 1.6. GuruFocus gives Berkshire Hathaway a Financial Strength rating of 4/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 8/10.

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Berkshire Hathaway sold for $142.19 per share Thursday afternoon.

Gates sold his 6,134,939-share stake in BP PLC (BP, Financial), a London-based oil and gas company, for an average price of $33.84 per share. The transaction had a -1.09% impact on Gates’ portfolio.

BP’s leading shareholder among the gurus is Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss with a stake of 30,061,920 shares. The stake is 0.9% of BP’s outstanding shares and 1.4% of Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss’ total assets.

BP has a forward P/E of 11.1, a P/B of 1 and a P/S of 0.4. GuruFocus gives BP a Financial Strength rating of 6/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 4/10.

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BP sold for $31.54 per share Thursday afternoon.

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