adminBerkshire’s Hathaway’s mystery stock purchase could remain hidden for another quarter.
Berkshire Hathaway
has requested confidential treatment from the Securities and Exchange Commission related to the purchase of one or more stocks for the second straight quarter.
In its 13-F report for the fourth quarter released late Wednesday, Berkshire sought the treatment after requesting it in November when it released its 13-F report detailing its U.S. equity holdings.
On the cover page of its latest 13-F report, Berkshire said: “The Manager has omitted from this public Form 13F one or more holding(s) for which it is requesting confidential treatment from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to section 13(f) of the Exchange Act and rule 24b-2 thereunder).”
That means the mystery stock—or stocks—may not be revealed until mid May, when Berkshire reports its first-quarter equity holdings in a 13-F report.
It is possible that Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett could discuss the stock at the company’s annual meeting in May and the equity holding could be disclosed earlier if Berkshire reaches a 5% investment in the company.
Berkshire made the confidentiality request presumably because Buffett wants to continue buying the stock without public knowledge of the holding.
Such a revelation could push up the price of stock—assuming it’s just one holding—and make it more costly for Berkshire to get its desired investment in the company since the disclosure of a new Berkshire equity holding often leads to a pop in the stock as investors seek to follow Buffett, who oversees Berkshire’s equity portfolio of around $350 billion.
Barron’s has written about the Berkshire mystery purchase and speculated that it was a financial company based on disclosure in Berkshire’s third-quarter 10-Q report showing an increase of over $1 billion in the cost basis of its equity holdings in financial stocks.
The ultimate position in the company could total $5 billion or more.
Our best guess was that the purchase was
Chubb,
BlackRock
or
Morgan Stanley.
Write to Andrew Bary at [email protected]
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