Buffett boosts holdings in Mellon
He also builds up stake in Synchrony
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett built a new position in consumer finance company Synchrony Financial and boosted his holdings of Bank of New York Mellon by more than 50% in the second quarter of 2017, according to a regulatory filing Monday from Berkshire Hathaway.
Buffett’s financial moves are closely watched by Wall Street. In the April-thru-June quarter, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway also dumped the rest of its stake in General Electric (GE), selling the rest of its roughly 10.6 million share position. The biggest shift in Berkshire’s massive stock portfolio — which is now dominated by giant holdings such as iPhone maker Apple, soft drink giant Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo, the large U.S. bank that has seen its image tarnished due to its fake accounts scandal — was in the financial services sector.
Buffett built a 17.46 million share stake in Synchrony Financial (SYF) valued at nearly
$518 million at Monday’s closing price of $29.64. Shares of Synchrony, which offers private label credit cards, were up 4.5% at $30.98 in after-hours trading.
Buffett’s Berkshire boosted its stake in Bank of New York Mellon to 50.23 million shares, up 52% from the 33.01 million shares it owned at the end of the first quarter.
In other moves, Buffett further trimmed his position in IBM, reducing his share count by 10.48 million shares to 54.08 million shares, down from 64.56 million shares at the end of the first quarter.
Buffett made bigger news in prior quarters when he built huge positions in Apple and a number of airlines, including American, Delta and Southwest.