"Tracking Tweedy Browne Portfolio – Q2 2016 Update"
"Tweedy Browne’s US long portfolio decreased from $3.63B to $3.56B this quarter.The largest five individual stock positions are Johnson & Johnson, Cisco Systems, Berkshire Hathaway, Wells Fargo, and Halliburton and they account for ~44% of the US long portfolio.3M Company and Philip Morris stakes were decreased substantially during the quarter.This article is part of a series that provides an ongoing analysis of the changes made to Tweedy Browne’s US stock portfolio on a quarterly basis. It is based on Tweedy Browne’s regulatory  filed on 08/10/2016. Please visit our  series to get an idea of their investment philosophy and our  for the fund’s moves during Q1 2016.This quarter, Tweedy Browne’s US long portfolio decreased 1.90% from $3.63B to $3.56B. The number of holdings remained steady at 50. The largest position is Johnson & Johnson at 10.95% of the US long portfolio. Largest five individual stock positions are Johnson & Johnson, Cisco Systems, Berkshire Hathaway, Wells Fargo, and Halliburton. Combined they are at 43.66% of the portfolio. 33 of the 50 13F stakes are significantly large (over ~0.5% of the US long portfolio each) and they are the focus of this article.Tweedy Browne (TBGVX) (TWEBX) (TBHDX) (TBCUX) has released a number of  over the years and that is a valuable resource for anyone looking to learn from their value investing philosophy.  The best known work is “” that was first released in 1992. Also, Christopher Browne authored the book “”, a great introduction.Note: Tweedy Browne’s flagship Tweedy Browne Global Value Fund (TBGVX) has a global orientation with non-US allocation at ~71% of the portfolio and cash at ~19%. The top five holdings are Safran SA (SAFRF), Roche Holding AG Dividend Right Cert. (RHHVF), Novartis AG (NVSEF) (NVS), Heineken Holding NV (HKHHF) (HINKY), and GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GLAXF) (GSK). Together, they are at ~15% of the fund.Stake Disposals:Baxalta Inc. (BXLT): A 2.77% of the portfolio Baxalta stake was established as a result of the spinoff of Baxalta from Baxter International that closed July 1st 2015. Baxter shareholders received one share of Baxalta for each share of Baxter held. In January 2016, Shire plc agreed to acquire Baxalta and that transaction closed in June. The terms called for Baxalta shareholders to receive $18 per share cash and 0.1482 shares of Shire plc for each Baxalta share held. The Baxalta stake was eliminated as a result. A minutely small position in Shire plc still remains.Stake Increases:Wells Fargo (WFC): WFC is a top-five position at 6.65% of the US long portfolio. The initial stake was established in 2010 with the bulk of the current position purchased in 2011 at prices between $25 and $34. The stock currently trades at $48.18. Q4 2015 saw a ~7% reduction at prices between $51 and $56 and last quarter had also seen a marginal further reduction. There was a ~8% increase this quarter at prices between $45 and $51.Verizon Communications (VZ): VZ is a 2.59% of the US long portfolio position established in Q3 2014 at prices between $48.40 and $52. In Q4 2014, the stake was increased by ~38% at prices between $45.42 and $51.50 and that was followed by a ~31% increase in Q2 2015 at prices between $46.61 and $50.55. Last three quarters had seen very minor trimming while this quarter saw a marginal increase. The stock currently trades at $53.81.Agco Corporation (AGCO): AGCO was a minutely small stake as of Q3 2015. The following quarter saw a ~92% increase at prices between $43.83 and $51.44 and that was followed with another ~48% increase last quarter at prices between $44 and $53.28. The stock is currently at $47.89 and the position is now at 1.03% of the 13F portfolio. This quarter saw a marginal further increase.Avnet Inc. (AVT): AVT is a small 0.82% of the US long portfolio stake established last quarter at prices between $37.78 and $44.73 and increased by ~8% this quarter at prices between $38.92 and $44.80. The stock currently trades at $40.99.Stake Decreases:3M Company (MMM) and Baxter International (BAX): MMM & BAX are medium-sized long-term stakes in the portfolio at 4.51% and 3.04% respectively. MMM was first purchased in 2008 while BAX stake was established in 2010. The positions had seen very minor reductions in recent quarters. This quarter saw a ~11% further reduction in MMM at prices between $165 and $175 and the stock is now at $179. The BAX stake also saw a ~4% trimming. Tweedy Browne is starting to harvest gains.Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B): Berkshire Hathaway is a very long-term stake that has been in the portfolio since before the financial crisis. It is currently their third-largest position at 8.67% of the US long portfolio. Back in 2009, it was a very small 0.60% of the portfolio position. The bulk of the current stake was purchased in 2010 and 2012 at prices between $65 and $90. The position was marginally reduced in the last nine quarters. The stock currently trades at $147.Bank of New York Mellon (BK): BK is a fairly large 5.56% stake first purchased in 2010 in the mid-20s price range. Last quarter saw a ~41% stake increase at prices between $32.74 and $38.17. The stock currently trades at $39.84. There was a very minor trimming this quarter.Cisco Systems (CSCO): CSCO was a 2.2% of the US long portfolio position when first established in 2011. It is currently their second-largest 13F stake at 10.90% of the US long portfolio. The bulk of the current position was purchased in 2012 at prices between $15.50 and $21. Last quarter saw a ~45% stake increase at prices between $22.51 and $28.47. The stock currently trades at $30.85. This quarter saw a marginal reduction.Comcast Corporation (CMCSA): CMCSA is a very long-term stake that has been in the portfolio since before the financial crisis. The stake was reduced by ~11% in Q4 2015 at prices between $56 and $63. The stock is now at ~$67. Last two quarters have seen further trimming. Tweedy Browne is harvesting gains.ConocoPhillips (COP): COP was a minutely small position in 2007. The majority of the current ~2.6M share stake (3.16% of portfolio) was purchased in 2009 at prices between $22 and $40. The stock currently trades at $40.60. Last two quarters have seen very minor reductions.Note: The figures quoted above are adjusted for the May 1, 2012 COP spinoff of Phillips 66 whereby COP shareholders received one share of Phillips 66 for every 2 shares of COP.Devon Energy (DVN): DVN is a fairly large 3.84% of the US long portfolio position. It has seen marginal reductions in the last nine quarters. The bulk of the current stake was purchased in 2012 when around 2.2M shares were acquired at prices between $51 and $75. The stock currently trades well below the low end of that range at $39.57.Emerson Electric (EMR): EMR is a long-term 2.68% stake. The position was first purchased in 2008 and doubled the following year at a cost-basis in the low-30s. Around 40% of that original position was sold in 2010 in the low-50s price-range. It had since been kept relatively steady. Last major activity was in Q2 2015 when the stake saw a ~13% reduction at prices between $55.43 and $61.78. The stock currently trades at $53.44. There was a very minor ~1% trimming this quarter.Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) (GOOGL) previously Google: GOOG is a large 5.48% position first purchased in 2012 at much lower prices compared to the current trading price of $785. Last four quarters have seen marginal reductions. Tweedy Browne is sitting on huge long-term gains on this position.Halliburton Company (HAL): HAL is a large (top-five) 6.50% of the portfolio stake. It was established in 2012 at prices between $27.80 and $38.50. There have only been very minor adjustments since. The stock currently trades at $43.76.International Business Machines (IBM): IBM is a 1.72% of the 13F portfolio position established in Q3 2015 at prices between $141 and $173. Last quarter saw a 22% increase at prices between $118 and $152. The stock currently trades at $162. There was a very minor trimming this quarter.Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): JNJ is the largest position in the US long portfolio at 10.95%. It is a long-term stake that has been in the portfolio since before the financial crisis. The position was built up from 400K shares to just over 4.3M shares between 2009 and 2012 at prices between $48 and $72. Since then, the stake saw minor selling most quarters and that pattern continued this quarter: ~4.93% reduction. The share count is now at 3.22M shares. The stock currently trades at $123. Tweedy Browne is harvesting long-term gains from this position.MRC Global (MRC): The 2.28% MRC stake was purchased in Q3 2015 at prices between $10.91 and $15.72 and increased by ~16% the following quarter at prices between $10.91 and $15.36. The stock is now at $14.81. Last two quarters saw marginal reductions.Note: Tweedy Browne controls ~5.6% of MRC.Philip Morris (PM): PM is a fairly large 4.20% of the portfolio stake established in 2009 at a cost-basis in the high-30s. The following year also saw a ~50% increase in the low-50s price range. Around two-thirds of that original stake was disposed of in 2012 in the high-80s price range. The remaining position had been kept relatively steady since. This quarter saw a ~18% reduction at prices between $97 and $102. The stock is now at $99.17. Tweedy Browne is starting to harvest long-term gains.Diageo plc (DEO), General Electric (GE), Illinois Tool Works (ITW), Lockheed Martin (LMT), MasterCard Inc. (MA), National Western Life (NWLI), Novartis AG (NVS), Phillips 66 (PSX), UniFirst Corporation (UNF), Unilever (UN) (UL), Union Pacific (UNP), and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT): These are small positions (less than 2% of the US long portfolio) that were reduced this quarter.Note: The firm has a fairly large stake in Diageo, although the 13F position is very small - the rest of the shares are London listed which are outside the realm of 13F filings.Kept Steady:Coca Cola FEMSA (KOF) and US Bancorp (USB): These are very small (less than ~1% of the US long portfolio each) stakes kept steady this quarter.Other minutely small (less than 0.5% of the US long portfolio each) positions in the 13F portfolio include GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), HSBC Holdings (HSBC), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) (RDS.B), Shire plc (SHPG), Total S A ADR (TOT), American Express (AXP), American National Insurance (ANAT), CKX lands (CKX), Connecticut Water Service (CTWS), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Leucadia National (LUK), NOW Inc. (DNOW), Shenandoah Tel. (SHEN), and Torchmark Corp. (TMK).Note: GlaxoSmithKline, HSBC, Royal Dutch Shell, and Total SA are top positions in the firm. Shares in these European businesses are primarily held in their native markets and so are outside the realm of US 13F filings.The spreadsheet below highlights changes to Tweedy Browne’s US stock holdings in Q2 2016:"