We got a glimpse at Warren Buffett’s recent investment moves with Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s (NYSE:BRK.B) 13F filing, which details the company’s stock trades through the end of 2010. Most notably, the Oracle of Omaha ditched 5 million shares in Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC).
“He’s closing out a loser,” Jeff Matthews, author of ‘Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha’ told Bloomberg. “We bought it during the crisis. But its earnings power coming out the crisis has been reduced.”
Buffett took a loss of more than 55 percent on the trade after purchasing the shares during the height of the mortgage crisis. Some analysts see the move out of BAC as a sign that Buffett’s cleaning house as he prepares to hand over the reins to a group of successors.
Other positions Berkshire closed out last year:
- Becton Dickinson & Co. (NYSE:BDX)
- Comcast Corp. (NYSE:CMCSA)
- Fiserv Inc. (NYSE:FISV)
- Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE:LOW)
- Nalco Holding Co. (NYSE:NLC)
- Nestle (NSRGY.PK)
- Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE)
Berkshire now holds positions in just 25 companies. That’s down from 37 in June, according to NewsyStocks.com. Interestingly, Berkshire wasn’t the only investment company to shift capital out of banks.
Trian Partners, which is headed by widely-followed investor Nelson Peltz, ditched stakes in Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and U.S. Bancorp, (NYSE: USB), according to BizJournals.com, to make a big bet on food stocks, specifically Kellogg’s (NYSE: K).
Related
|
DROPPING DOLLARS
|
RARE WHAT?
|
|
BYE BYE OIL
|
GO LONG
|
|
SILVER SHEEN
|
$5 BILLION MAN
|
Tags: BAC, food stocks, K, Warren Buffett
