By Dr. David Kass

In SEC Form 4 filings, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) has disclosed that in January and early February 2016, it has added to its stake in Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) at prices between $72 and $80 per share. This additional investment of approximately $1.1 billion ($634 million in early January and $446 million in late January and early February) has resulted in Berkshire owning 75.6 million shares of Phillips 66, or 14.3 percent of its outstanding shares.  Berkshire's stake in Phillips 66, at its closing price of $75.20 on February 12, is valued at $5.7 billion and is its sixth largest stock holding.

Since it holds over 10 percent of the shares of Phillips 66, Berkshire is required to report changes to its position on SEC Form 4.  Berkshire first revealed owning over 10 percent of Phillips 66 stock in August, 2015.  This year's purchases are the first Berkshire has made since September.  It is likely that this additional investment in Phillips 66 was made by Warren Buffett's portfolio managers, Todd Combs and/or Ted Weschler.