Warren Buffett Bought 5M Office Depot Shares In 1Q
Updated: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 03:54 PM ET
Berkshire Hathaway Inc., controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, opened a new 5 million share stake in Office Depot Inc. (ODP, news, msgs) during the first quarter, according to a Form 13F filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The stake in the office supply retail chain was valued at $43.8 million as of March 31 and $51.9 million as of June 30.
Overall, Buffett reported stakes in 29 companies with a value of $28.63 billion. This compares with holdings in 26 companies worth $28.45 billion.
Buffett's other new holding consisted of 2,250,000 shares of Honeywell International Inc. (HON, news, msgs), purchased during the second quarter. The Honeywell stake had a value of $78.5 million as of June 30.
Honeywell is a technology and manufacturing company. The company was to merge with General Electric Co. (GE, news, msgs), but European antitrust concerns scuttled the deal.
Buffett reported closing out one position in the second quarter, disposing of all 222,177 shares held in aerospace and defense company General Dynamics Corp. (GD, news, msgs). The shares had a value of $13.9 million on March 31.
Buffett's largest sale during the quarter, in terms of number of shares sold, consisted of 11,869,425 shares of banking company US Bancorp (USB, news, msgs).
The sale lowered the investor's holdings to 6,284,839 shares worth $143.2 million as of June 30.
The second-largest sale during the quarter was of 5,521,300 shares of clothing designer Jones Apparel Group Inc. (JNY, news, msgs). At the end of the quarter, Buffett owned 8,036,800 Jones Apparel shares valued at $347.2 million.
Previously, Buffett reported holding 8,059,300 Jones Apparel shares as of June 11.
Another sale during the quarter was of 5,054,600 shares of Dun & Bradstreet Corp. (DNB, news, msgs). The sale cut Buffett's stake to 6,945,400 shares worth $195.9 million at the end of the quarter.
The sale of the shares in the business data researcher and marketer was reported in a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on July 10.
Other sales during the quarter include 1,806,300 shares of financial-services company Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC, news, msgs), 828,031 shares of financial-services company Citigroup (C, news, msgs), 835,100 shares of financial-services firm SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI, news, msgs) and 73,600 shares of auto parts company Superior Industries International Inc. (SUP, news, msgs).
As of June 30, Buffett owned 53,265,080 shares of Wells Fargo, 2,961,430 shares of Citigroup, 5,806,300 shares of SunTrust and 105,800 shares of Superior Industries.
In addition, Buffett reported one other new holding in a confidential 13F for the period ended Dec. 31, 2000, released Tuesday. The investor held 860,000 shares of off-price retail store company Ross Stores Inc. (ROST, news, msgs).
Buffett made no change to the holdings in the first quarter, according to a confidential 13F for the period ended March 31 that was released Tuesday by the SEC. The shares were valued at $16.1 million as of March 31.
Buffett moved his holdings in Sealed Air Corp. (SEE, news, msgs) to the confidential 13F from the public 13F, according to the filing for the period ended June 30. A confidential filing is held by the SEC for up to one year and is done at the request of the filer to limit severe market reactions.
Buffett reported only one addition to a holding in the second quarter, purchasing 99,600 shares of Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR, news, msgs) for a total stake of 20 million shares.
The holdings in the Canadian communications company were worth $474.8 million at the end of the quarter.
Warren Buffett is a student of the Graham & Dodd investment philosophy. Buffett has expanded Graham & Dodd's strict quantitative numbers approach to include an assessment of a firm's management. Buffett typically invests in firms with demonstrated earnings power, high returns on equity, monopoly characteristics and strong management.
Below is a list of Berkshire Hathaway's 10 largest holdings as of June 30, in terms of dollar value.
HOLDINGS BY MARKET VALUE
CHANGE
HOLDING SHARES IN SHARES
VALUE OWNED OWNED
COCA-COLA CORP. $9,000,000,000 200,000,000 0
AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. 5,882,496,000 151,610,700 0
GILLETTE CO. 2,783,040,000 96,000,000 0
WELLS FARGO & CO. 2,473,098,000 53,265,080 (1,806,300)
WESCO FINANCIAL CORP. 1,984,104,000 5,703,087 0
WASHINGTON POST CO. 991,737,000 1,727,765 0
MOODY'S CORP. 804,000,000 24,000,000 0
H&R BLOCK CO. 508,951,000 7,884,600 0
M&T BANK CORP. 506,511,000 6,708,760 0
FIRST DATA CORP. 504,362,000 7,850,000 0 |
