Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway made a slew of changes to its massive equity portfolio last quarter, including adding a financial stock during the latest banking crisis, according to a new regulatory filing. The Omaha-based conglomerate built a new stake in Capital One Financial in the first quarter, worth more than $950 million, the filing showed. The McLean, VA.-based financial institution fared relatively well during the recent banking chaos with shares rising more than 3% in the first quarter. Capital One shares jumped more than 5% in afterhours trading following the news. It’s unclear if it was Buffett who purchased the stock or one of his investing lieutenants, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who oversee about $15 billion each for Berkshire. At the same time, Berkshire dumped its remaining stakes in Bank of New York Mellon and U.S. Bancorp . The “Oracle of Omaha” recently struck a pessimistic tone about the health of banks, saying we were not through with bank failures and American banks could face more turbulence ahead. The recent tumult has led to the collapse of three mid-sized institutions since March. Activision and Paramount The conglomerate continued to trim its merger arbitrage play Activision Blizzard last quarter, but the stake was still worth more than $4 billion at the end of March. Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover deal on Monday won the approval from the European Union, but it was opposed by the U.S. and the U.K. regulators. Berkshire kept its Paramount stake relatively unchanged at the end of the first quarter. The stock slid more than 30% this month alone after an earnings miss and a big dividend cut. Buffett said at Berkshire annual meeting that “it’s not good news when any company passes its dividend, or cuts its dividend dramatically.” He also called streaming a tough business. Berkshire’s stakes in its two biggest holdings – Apple and Bank of America – increased slightly in the first quarter. That’s because Berkshire combined the equity holdings of its Gen Re insurance subsidiary in the regulatory reporting for the first time. Berkshire acquired Gen Re in 1998 and previously reported securities owned by Gen Re’s subsidiary, New England Asset Management, separately. The increase in Berkshire’s HP stake also stemmed from Gen Re. Correction: A previous version misstated Berkshire’s adjustments to its Apple, Bank of America and HP stakes. The changes were a result of the inclusion of Gen Re’s equity holdings in the 13F filing.
