Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) opens new positions in Kroger and Biogen

Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate led by Warren Buffett, has published its document 13F in the United States Commission of Markets and Securities (SEC, for its acronym in English) where it disclosed the position of its portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of the year past.

The Omaha Oracle company opened new positions in the Kroger supermarket chain, with a position of 18.9 million shares worth 549 million dollars, and Biogen biotechnology, where it bought 648,447 shares. This last investment is worth 192.4 million dollars. The titles of Kroger accumulate a fall of 2.6% in what we have of year while those of Biogen have risen 12.2%.

Among the most notable portfolio changes in Berkshire include, among others, the reduction of exposure to some large banks. Among them, Goldman Sachs stands out, where the investment was cut by 34% to 12 million shares and Wells Fargo, where the reduction was 14% to 323.2 million shares. Also reduced, although more moderately, positions in Bank of America, up to 925 million shares and still representing 13.4% of its portfolio, and Bank of New York, up to 79.7 million shares .

Buffett and his team also took the opportunity to reduce their participation in Apple by 1.4%, which stood at the end of last year at 245.15 million shares and an approximate value of 71.989 million dollars. The iPhone manufacturer accounts for almost 30% of Berkshire's portfolio of shares. Other residual downward changes occurred in Phillips 66 and The Travelers Companies.

The conglomerate based in Omaha, Nebraska, kept its positions unchanged in companies such as Amazon, American Express, Coca Cola, Delta, JPMorgan or Kraft among other companies.