Bill Gates Trims Berkshire Stake, Adds 2 New Positions - One Is A 'Garbage' Stock

Bill Gates has been known for buying up farmland as well as investing in disruptive companies to better combat climate change such as solid-state battery producer QuantumScape QS.

Over the course of the third quarter, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust increased its portfolio from 20 to 21 stocks, taking it to over $33.9 billion in value.

During the second quarter, the value of the portfolio was over $17.7 billion in value, revealing Gates has increased the fund's stake in a number of stocks.

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What Was Purchased?

Over the course of the third quarter, Gates made two new purchases, one of which was Waste Connections WCN, the third-largest integrated provider of traditional solid waste and recycling services in North America.

Gates purchased over 2.1 million shares in Waste Connections, which is not surprising as he has been a big proponent of Waste Management WM.

The other being Kraft Heinz KHC, as Gates purchased over 2.6 million shares of the stock during the third quarter.

What Was Sold?

Out of all of Gate’s positions, he sold Sanderson Farms Inc. SAFM, accounting for 524,236 shares.

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What Did Gates Shuffle Around?

Gates' largest trades were made amongst his top five holdings, reducing shares in his previous largest holding Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) by exactly 5 million shares, now making it his second-largest holding, totaling 23% of the portfolio.

Gates increased the portfolio’s stake in Microsoft MSFT by over 38.3 million shares (totaling 27% of portfolio), Canadian National Railway CNI by over 44.8 million shares (totaling 17%), Waste Management WM by over 16.6 million shares (totaling 17%), and Deere DE by over 3 million shares (totaling 3.8%).

Gates also increased his stake in FedEx FDX by at least 1 million shares and Coupang CPNG by over 3.5 million shares, and incrementally increased his stake in Ecolab ECL.

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