Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway personifies value investing and the importance of patience that is its manager’s hallmark. This is exemplified by the fund’s recent 13F filing with the SEC, which shows that Buffett’s top picks in terms of their contribution to his portfolio remained nearly the same, which has been the case for several years. Thus, it is no surprise that among the fund’s top five picks, changes were made to only one position. Buffett made additional stock purchases of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), initiated two relatively small positions, and closed only three positions during the last quarter, while many hedge funds had large turnovers in their holdings, according to their own 13F filings of late.
It is nearly impossible to summarize the achievements of Warren Buffett as an investor. If any phrase could even partly capture his record of stock picking since 1951, it would be the title that the finance community has bestowed upon him, ‘Oracle of Omaha’, on account of his seemingly clairvoyant ability when it comes to picking the right companies to invest in. Berkshire Hathaway also owes some of its success to its Vice Chairman, Charlie Munger. Investors of the holding company will have a rare honor of receiving investor letters from both business magnates this year as they describe the journey of Berkshire Hathaway over the last fifty years, and the future outlook for the holding company in the following five years.
Buffett’s largest holding during the last quarter was in Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), and the stake in the company remained unchanged at 463.46 million shares valued at $25.41 billion. The position comprises 23.23% of Berkshire’s portfolio value. Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) has been a longtime favorite of Buffett’s. Although nearly flat year-to-date, the stock is up nearly 17% over the past calendar year. In its fourth quarter earnings report, the mortgage lender’s Earnings per Share (EPS) met analysts’ estimates of $1.02 on revenue of $21.4 billion, which was slightly higher than anticipated.
However, the contraction of the company’s net interest margin for the second straight quarter was a little worrisome for investors, as it slid to 3.04% from 3.27% in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2014. Those concerns hindered an otherwise good earnings report from boosting Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC)’s stock this year.
The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO)‘s contribution to Berkshire’s portfolio was down from 15.74% at the end of third quarter to 15.44% at the end of the fourth. As no shares were sold, the decrease was primarily due to a 2.4% drop in the company’s stock price. Currently, Buffett holds an even 400 million shares of The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO), which are valued at nearly $16.89 billion. Boykin Curry‘s Eagle Capital Management is another significant investor of The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO). After shedding about 2.43 million shares during the last quarter, Curry now owns 22.35 million shares valued at $943.83 million.
