Buffett Warns Of Consequences As Interest Rate Hike Looms

In a rare move, Buffett also provided an update on Berkshire’s position in International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), one of its longstanding top holdings. “We bought it in the first quarter, and normally I wouldn’t tell you this, but we bought some in the third quarter,” Buffett said during today’s interview. Berkshire’s holding of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) consisted of 79.57 million shares on June 30, ranking it as the firm’s third-largest position. The $12.94 billion holding also lead the stock to being ranked as one of the top mega-caps that the firms we track had amassed substantial positions in, as did Berkshire’s top two holdings, Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), and The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO). Buffett did not make changes to any of those top three positions during the second quarter.

Buffett did however make several key moves during the second quarter, including a new position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd (NYSE:AXTA), and a greatly increased position in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), which was initially reported as a sold-off position, as Buffett was allowed to confidentially report the position to the SEC initially and thus did not publicly disclose any position in the company on his 13F, which made it appear that he had sold out of it. It was revealed at the end of August that Buffett now holds 57.98 million shares of the oil refiner.

Disclosure: None