And Kraft Heinz stakes: The big picture

the case that investors can receive better dividend yields in telecom than they can in tobacco. AT&T’s stock drop in 2015 now gives it a yield of almost 5.8%, and Verizon’s pullback from highs has its dividend just shy of 5.0%.

Kraft Heinz is the stake that should stand out the most to investors. It was already well known that Buffett was an investor in Kraft Foods and separately was a participant, along with 3G Capital, in Heinz. Then that merger of the two food giants gave Berkshire Hathaway a massive stake in the combined company.

Kraft Heinz was formally listed as a huge 325,634,818 shares, worth almost $23 bln at the end of September. That stake was listed as being over $23.5 bln all-in on Kraft Heinz, as of the previously released September 30 balance sheet. The 13F filing of the full holdings showed the stake as being worth $22.98 bln.

The Kraft Heinz stake had been previously written about in Berkshire Hathaway’s third-quarter earnings and balance sheet document. That specifies how the transaction looks and includes data about 3G, stated as follows: “Berkshire’s initial investments consisted of 425 mln shares of Heinz Holding common stock, warrants, which were exercised in June 2015, to acquire approximately 46 mln additional shares of common stock at one cent per share, and cumulative compounding preferred stock with a liquidation preference of $8 bln. The aggregate cost of these investments was $12.25 bln.”

3G also acquired 425 mln shares of Heinz Holding common stock for $4.25 bln. In addition, Heinz Holding reserved 39.6 mln shares of common stock for issuance to its management and directors under equity grants, including stock options.

What has to be kept Hathaway’s quarterly approximately 58% of in mind now is financial filing the aggregate that Berkshire showed that fair value was concentrated in the equity securities of just four companies. These were listed as follows:

- Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) as $25.2 bln;

- Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) as $16.0 bln;

- International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) as $11.7 bln;

- American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) as $11.2 bln;

Now insert the more expanded equity value of $127.4 bln rather than the $106 bln prior grand total. The $22.98 bln for Kraft would now come to a rounded $87.1 bln. Future filings may say that Berkshire Hathaway’s public equity holdings are now dominated by five companies, comprising about 68.4% of the value of the public equities portfolios.

Buffett’s latest portfolio changes looked very different from past changes. It turns out that there were exceptions and reasons for each. Investors always need to consider the logic behind what they see reported just on a static basis as if there is really a vacuum.