CNBC: Expect Some Sales When Warren Buffett's Stock Holdings Are Revealed Later Today

Published: Monday, 17 May 2010 | 12:35 PM ET

By: Alex Crippen
Executive Producer

We'll get some fresh data on what Warren Buffett has been buying and selling later today (Monday), when Berkshire Hathaway releases details of its stock portfolio.

Expect more selling than buying, as Berkshire continues to raise money for its $26 billion acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Today's 13-F filing with the SEC will list Berkshire's U.S. equity holdings as of March 31, 2010, the end of the first quarter.

We already know to look for another reduction in Berkshire's stake in Procter & Gamble [PG 63.27 0.73 (+1.17%) ], on top of the 8.8 million shares sold during last year's fourth quarter. Berkshire's quarterly earnings filing shows the company's total P&G cost basis, the amount of money it initially paid for the stock, fell $502 million between December 31 and March 31. (Reducing the number of shares held would also reduce the total cost basis. In this instance, we're not talking about per-share cost basis, which could also be reduced by acquiring more shares at a lower price.)

We also may see another drop for Johnson & Johnson [JNJ 63.74 -0.23 (-0.36%) ]. Berkshire's stake in that company fell by almost 10 million shares in the fourth quarter.

Buffett told us in a March 1 interview that he sold shares in P&G and J&J because he wanted to raise money to buy BNSF, and not because he thinks they will be long-term losers.

Berkshire also sold shares of ConocoPhillips [COP 54.86 -0.98 (-1.76%) ] and ExxonMobil [XOM 63.03 -0.57 (-0.9%) ] in last year's fourth quarter.

Current Berkshire stock prices:

Class B: [BRK.B 75.95 -0.28 (-0.37%) ]

Class A: [BRK.A 113860.0 -290.00 (-0.25%) ]

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