(The following Bloomberg News story by Josh P. Hamilton and Erik Holm appeared on the Fort Worth Star Telegram website on August 28.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. boosted its stake in Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., the second-largest U.S. railroad, by 24 percent.
Berkshire bought 10.1 million more shares of the Fort Worth-based carrier, in which it was already the biggest shareholder, from Aug. 23 through Monday, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The purchases increased Berkshire’s ownership of the railroad to 52.1 million shares, or 15 percent of the shares outstanding as of July 16. Berkshire, based in Omaha, Neb., first disclosed rail holdings in April when a filing showed the company’s Burlington Northern stock. Buffett said in May that he also bought shares of Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp.
In an Aug. 14 filing, Berkshire omitted information on Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, invoking confidentiality. At the end of March, the company held 10.5 million shares of Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific, the largest U.S. railroad, and 6.36 million shares of Norfolk, Va.-based Norfolk, No. 4 in the industry.
Buffett told shareholders at Berkshire’s annual meeting in May that he likes the stocks of rail- road companies because recent higher fuel prices have made the carriers more competitive with the trucking industry.