Alaska Bought Up Berkshire Hathaway, Walmart, and AMD Stock - Barron's

Alaska’s Department of Revenue bought more Berkshire Hathaway, Walmart, and AMD stock.
Photograph by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Alaska Department of Revenue, which collects and invests public funds, added to investment positions in some of the biggest American companies in the first quarter, as the coronavirus pandemic roiled the market.

The agency increased holdings in Berkshire Hathaway class B stock (ticker: BRKb), Walmart (WMT), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in the quarter. The Department disclosed the trades, among others, in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Alaskan agency, which managed $6.3 billion in U.S.-traded securities as of March 31, didn’t respond to a request for comment on its trades.

The Department bought 24,500 more Berkshire shares in the first quarter, raising its investment to 384,102 shares. In the fourth quarter, the agency was selling the stock.

Berkshire shares are down 14.4% year to date through Thursday’s close, compared with a 13.6% drop in the S&P 500. But Berkshire stock has gained 6.0% since the end of the third quarter, compared with an 8.2% rise in the index. The Warren Buffett-led Berkshire recently disclosed it pared back investments in Delta Air Lines (DAL) and Southwest Airlines (LUV).

Walmart stock is sporting a 2.5% gain in 2020, and is up 7.2% since March 31. We noted recently that the retailing giant could benefit from the potential closures of weaker rivals.

The Department bought 21,364 additional Walmart shares in the first quarter to end March with 363,949 shares.

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The agency lifted its investment in chip giant AMD to 274,091 shares in the first quarter, a 10% increase from the end of 2019. AMD shares are up 5.5% this year, including a second-quarter rise of 6.4%.

AMD has been taking away market share from rival Intel (INTC), but both companies have been benefiting from higher PC demand brought on by the wave of people now working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.

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