Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s $486 billion conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial) revealed its second-quarter portfolio changes on Thursday, showing that its portfolio managers took little investment action beyond building its Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN, Financial) position.
Buffett, or one of his portfolio managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, also added to the company’s stakes in Bank of America Corp. (BAC, Financial), US Bancorp (USB, Financial) and Red Hat Inc. (RHT, Financial). Berkshire had plenty of cash to deploy on common stocks, with $122.4 billion on its balance sheet at the quarter’s end.
The portfolio was valued at $208.10 billion, with 47 holdings listed. Almost half of the portfolio was invested in financial services stocks at 47.18%, while technology encompasses 25.71% and consumer defensive 15.23%.
During the quarter, it shed one stock, USG Corp. (USG, Financial), which Buffett bought nearly two decades ago. The sheetrock maker filed for bankruptcy in 2006 in response to lawsuits related to its use of asbestos. In April, it closed a deal to be acquired by Gebr Knauf KG, a German manufacturer of building materials, which Buffett supported.
Buffett’s sole other sale was Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR, Financial), which it reduced by 4.97%.
At second quarter-end, Buffett’s five largest holdings, accounting for more than half of the portfolio, were: Apple (AAPL, Financial), Bank of America Corp. (BAC, Financial), Coca-Cola Co. (KO, Financial), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and American Express Co. (AXP).
Berkshire boosted its Amazon holding by 54,300 shares, or 11.17%, to 537,300 shares. The holding totaled 0.49% of the portfolio. Berkshire started a position in the company in the first quarter when the price averaged $1,661; in the second quarter, the price averaged $1,862.
Amazon.com Inc. has a market cap of $878.57 billion; its shares were traded around $1,776.12 Thursday with a price-earnings ratio of 73.71 and price-sales ratio of 3.55. Amazon.com Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 33.80% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Amazon.com Inc. the business predictability rank of 4-star.
Bank of America (BAC, Financial)
Berkshire acquired 31,081,000 shares of Bank of America, increasing the position by 3.47% to 927,248,600. The holding represented 12.92% of the portfolio. Bank of America traded for $29 on average during the second quarter.
Bank of America Corp. has a market cap of $244.34 billion; its shares were traded around $26.25 Thursday with a price-earnings ratio of 9.40 and price-sales ratio of 2.84. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Bank of America Corp. is 2.29%. The forward dividend yield of Bank of America Corp. stocks is 2.73%.
Berkshire purchased 3,150,787 shares of US Bancorp, increasing the position by 2.44% to 132,459,618 shares. The holding represented 3.34%. The stock’s second-quarter price averaged $52.
US Bancorp has a market cap of $80.81 billion; its shares were traded around $51.28 Thursday with a price-earnings ratio of 12.06 and price-sales ratio of 3.63. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Us Bancorp stocks is 2.89%. The forward dividend yield of US Bancorp is 2.91%.
Berkshire purchased 61,419 shares of Red Hat Inc., increasing the position by 1.2% to 5,171,890 shares. The position was 0.47% of the portfolio. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $185.
Red Hat Inc. has a market cap of $33.43 billion; its shares were traded around $187.71 Thursday with a price-earnings ratio of 75.69 and price-sales ratio of 10. Red Hat Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 16.50% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Red Hat Inc. the business predictability rank of 5-star.
See Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s portfolio here.
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