Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hikes GM Stake by 67%
Published: Thursday, 14 Feb 2013 | 5:05 PM ET
By: Alex CrippenExecutive Producer
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway increased its bet on General Motors, increasing its holdings by 67 percent in the final three months of last year.
The company's 13-F filing with the SEC shows Berkshire held 25 million shares on December 31, compared to 15 million as of September 30.
At today's closing price of $27.75, the additional 10 million shares are worth about $278 million. The total stake is worth $694 million, a relatively small holding for Berkshire.
(Read more: Warren Buffett: 'I'm Ready for Another Elephant')
Berkshire also reports a 4 percent increase in its Wells Fargo stake. While it's a smaller hike by percentage, the holdings are so big to start with that the new shares are worth over $609 million at today's close of $35.21.
The entire stake of 439.8 million shares is worth almost $15.5 billion, making it Berkshire's new top holding by market value. It tops Coca-Cola, the long-time number one, with a market value of $14.7 billion.
Berkshire has been consistently adding to its Wells Fargo stake while its Coca-Cola holdings have remain unchanged. Another factor: Wells shares are up 6.7 percent over the past three months, while Coke has dropped 2.9 percent.
Berkshire Hathaway Takes New Stakes
Berkshire Hathaway is taking new stakes, and also increasing its stake in General Motors, DirecTV and Precision Castparts.
Berkshire added new stakes for two companies, but the size of the holdings indicate the decision to buy was made by Berkshire's portfolio managers, not Buffett himself.
(Read more: Berkshire Hathaway, 3G to Buy Heinz for $23 Billion)
Verisign is one of the new additions. Berkshire owned 3,685,700 shares as of December 31. They're worth $168.3 million at today's close.
The other new name is Archer Daniels Midland with a stake of almost 6 million shares worth $187 million.
Other increases include:
Wabco Holdings: Up 155 percent to 4,071,925 shares, worth $279.6 million.
Precision Castparts: Up 58 percent to 1,977,336 million shares, worth $365 million.
National Oilwell Varco: Up 26 percent to 5,294,800 shares, worth $372 million.
Directv: Up 15 percent to 34,037,500 shares, worth $1.7 billion.
Wal-Mart: Up 2 percent to 47,501,182 shares, worth $3.4 billion.
IBM: Up 1 percent to 68,115,484 shares, worth $13.6 billion.
Liberty Media: Up 2 percent to 5,622,340 shares, worth $601 million.
維聖公司（VeriSign）為網站，企業，電子商務服務供應商以及個人提供基礎建設服務。公司的域名註冊、數位證明、全球性登記和付款提供重要的網頁認證，授權和交易基礎設施服務，為網絡業務的需求建立它們的網站身分以及管理安全電子商務和通訊。
Archer Daniels Midland Company 是農業產品加工和發酵科技的全球領先者。ADM是世界最大的大豆、玉米、小麥和可可豆的加工者。同時，ADM也是大豆油和大豆粉，乙醇、玉米甜味劑和麵粉的製造商。該公司與遍及全球的農業生産者合作，將以上提到的農產品製造為大豆粉、大豆油、玉米甜味劑、麵粉、可可和巧克力，乙醇和生物柴油、其他附加價值食品成分、動物營養和工業產品。
瓦伯科控股(WABCO)是全球主要電子煞車、穩定性、懸吊及傳動控制系統供應商，供重型商業用車輛使用。公司的產品也愈來愈廣見於奢華的運動休旅車。
Precision Castparts Corp. 是一個全球的複雜金屬元件和產品的製造商。公司是一個在製造大型複雜結構的投資鑄件方面的營銷領導商，以及是一個用於噴氣機引擎的副翼鑄件的領導製造商。另外，公司已經擴展到工業汽輪機，流體管理，工業金屬工藝工具以及機器和其他金屬產品市場。
