List of Purchases and Sales over time

Stocks A to Z
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Hey Folks,

I have been following BRK for a number of years and have not been a LTBH holder, but have profited from my investments in BRK over the years. With all of the chatter about short term purchases and sales (LTBH is dead?) I was wondering if there was anywhere where one could find a list of every stock acquisition and sale that BRK made going back in time. That might be an interesting and informative list!!

I checked WEB’s website but they do not have such a resource. I guess you could pour through each Annual Report but that would probably involve quite a bit of research.

Here’s a personal anecdote. I worked for Gillette IT a couple of times in my career. Both as a consultant and employee. It was a great organization, HQ in downtown Boston, and I had the opportunity to work with a bunch of very smart people. I also met my wife of 36 years while working there. I think it was back in the late 1980’s, that Ronald Perlman was trying to raid Gillette and Gillette management rebuked the offer.

https://pink.pharmaintelligence.informa.com/PS011039/PERELMANs-412-BIL-OFFER-FOR-GILLETTE-IS-214-TIMES-THE-PRICE

Instead, Gillette management worked with Warren Buffet to take a controlling interest in the company which pushed Perlman out (or something like that).

Anyway, later in my Gillette career, I had the opportunity to meet with Upper Execs in the Corporate Boardroom. I was pretty impressed… One of the Execs told me that I was sitting in Warren’s seat. YIKES!!!

I wanted to check the seat for loose change, but only made a joke about it.

Once Warren had a controlling interest in the company, he brought in Jim Kilts as CEO who really polished up the Balance Sheet and guided the later acquisition of Gillette by P&G. Part of that deal was that Warren was required (as part of the agreement) to comment favorably on the acquisition of Gillette by P&G and that he was not going to liquidate his P&G holdings that he gained through the deal.

I had an opportunity to work with the P&G folks for a number of years until they put the pressure on me to re-locate to Cincinnati to join their Executive training program. No thanks!!!

BRK is back on my watch list but I’m waiting for a better entry point - somewhere around 270.

'38Packard
→ Nothing against Cincy - just bad timing and I’m a New Englander at heart!

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That 270 may never come again, depending on whether we get a recession this year. :wink:

The lowest BRK.B has been in the last year is about 264.

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Hi Irv72,

I have been very patient, and I’m banking on, and I’m positioned for the next downturn. When folks realize that the Fed is not kidding, I’m hopeful to see 270 - It’s only a 10% drop from where it’s at now. Keep your ammo ready :wink:

'38Packard

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4

Why don’t you sell puts and collect premium as you wait ?

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Hey @dividends20,

Way too risky and complicated for me. Not sure if you have seen other posts that I’ve made here and other boards, but I don’t need the extra risk to live comfortably - so why would I?

Thanks anyway!!!
'38Packard
→ you go for it!!!

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In most instances market actually rally as Fed raises rate. I have no idea what is going to happen in future, but I am not dismissing the possibility of market not having a significant downturn. It could just keep moving sideways and digest all bad things.

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This is what I’ve been doing for a few months.

It’s not that complicated, using free online resources, one can get educated enough in an hour or three. Nor is it risky (in the sense of “losing money”) if you want to own the stock at a certain price anyway. Not to mention that with options, you can almost entirely choose your own risk profile.

For example, I sold some April 300 puts a while back that, if exercised, would have me buy BRKB for an effective price of 291.50. But earlier, I also had sold some Jan 300 puts that expired worthless, so my effective basis in new BRKB shares will be even lower if all is taken into account. For my long-term holdings right now, I am willing to buy BRKB anywhere under 300.

The real risk isn’t so much “losing money”, because as those puts expire worthless I get to keep the premium paid to me, but rather “not getting the shares” as they rise. I’m hopeful that the March and/or April puts that I’ve sold will eventually be exercised so I can accumulate some BRKB shares for the long-term.

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Hi @MarkR - Thanks for the primer! Sounds hard to me, but I’m totally OK with folks who actively sell puts and do other stuff to jack their rate of return. More power to ya!!

'38Packard

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9

This is what most new put premium harvesters say to themselves. What you consider a price at which you don’t mind owning dramatically changes when the stock price hits that price and then keeps going down by another 10%, 20%, 30% down. Just be aware of yourself.

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Alternatively…

“This is what most new put premium harvesters say to themselves. What you consider a price at which you don’t mind owning dramatically changes when the stock price… keeps going up by another 10%, 20%, 30% or more. Just be aware of yourself.”

A nice way to watch multi-baggers slip away. Potentially. :wink:

Rob
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

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If you want to buy a stock then you don’t need to rely on Puts to acquire the stocks. Writing options is selling an insurance. When you write insurance, you are counting on probabilities, volume, being well capitalized, and most importantly know when to take losses. Don’t confuse writing Put’s as getting paid to wait, free money or market paying you to buy the stock cheaply. They are all the ways you can cheat yourself.

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I only use puts on things I truly do want to own. In fact, I’ve never sold a put on a stock that I didn’t already own in quantity. It is simply a way to [possibly] increase my holdings at a slightly lower entry price. In fact, I just looked, and I actually purchased BRKB shares outright on 12/22/22 WHILE I also had those Jan '23 300 puts still in place.

I got the idea a few years ago from Apple (the corporation) when, as part of it’s buyback plan, it entered into an agreement with a large financial firm to sell puts on a large number of shares to effect their buyback as those puts were exercised.

I am the one that periodically posts here that selling options is never free money. Mostly in response to the call sellers that say their call selling is “income” similar to a dividend. It is nothing of the sort, instead it is selling something of value to someone else (who is usually a rational investor like you). The same applies to selling puts.

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Selling puts is free money if you want to buy a stock below a certain price (in this case $270). End of story.

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Rob, that’s the other side of the risk. You just settled for the premium and missed all the gains. :slight_smile:

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  1. It’s not free money, you’re still selling something (like selling a life insurance policy to a 20-something year old).
  2. You probably won’t get to buy it below $270 anyway
  3. Finding a quarter on the street is also free money. Only 1, ONE, Jan '25 270 put traded last session. Lot’s of free money there, huh?