Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) published a glimpse of its stock portfolio holdings as of December 31,2008, on the SEC website. I have highlighted the largest changes in shares owned.


In the last quarter of 2008 Warren Buffett kept adding to his Burlington Northern (BNI) position by purchasing well over 6 million shares for Berkshire’s account. He also added to his positions in Ingersoll- Rand (IR), NRG Energy (NRG), and Eaton (ETN). He initiated positions in Constellation Energy Group (CEG) using his Midamerican subsidiary and in Nalco (NLC).

Buffett was not only buying American however. He was selling as well. Berkshire cut its stake in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) by half to 28 million shares. Other notable decreases included Procter & Gamble (PG), US Bancorp (USB), Conoco-Phillips (COP) and Carmax (KMX). Berkshire also disposed of all of its Anheuser-Busch stock, which was tendered at $70/share after the merger with InBev. The holdings in other financial stocks such as Wells Fargo (WFC), American Express (AXP), Moody's (MCO) and Bank of America (BAC) were mainly unchanged for the quarter.

The value of Berkshire’s portfolio dropped to $51.87 billion from $69.89 billion at the end of third quarter 2008. Even the Oracle of Omaha is not immune to market corrections, especially now that his asset base is so huge. Berkshire Hathaway shares dropped by 26% in the last quarter of 2008, compared with a 21.5% drop for the broad S&P 500 index.