Bill Gates Just Bought $571 Million of This Stock

Bill Gates Just Bought $571 Million of This Stock

What stock did Bill Gates buy $571 million of?  This caught your attention surely, one of the world’s richest men didn’t get that way by making unwise investments decisions, in fact quite the opposite.   But what company would someone as rich as Bill Gates, dump over half a billion dollars in?  Let’s see if we can find out.  Hmm…$571 million, where did he put that?

First, does Bill Gates really invest in anything?  According to SEC filings he does.  He runs  the majority of his investments through Cascade Investment LLC a private investment and holding company, and is the successor company to Bill Gates’ investment holding company, Dominion Income Management.  Sometimes you will see Cascade and William H. Gates III  and even the Bill & Linda Gates Foundation side by side in corporate SEC filings such as Form 4s, 13Gs or 13Ds, which are filed to report insiders and shareholders with over 5% of a company’s stock.

Taking a look at John Deere (NYSE: DE)  filings, you will note that on July 29, 2011 a form 13G was filed for Cascade and William H. Gates indicating that both parties own almost 21 million shares of John Deere.  In fact, if you pay close attention to all nooks and crannies, Cascade actually stated that they spent about $571 million over the early part of the summer buying an additional 7.5 million shares of the John Deere.  All together, at current prices, that’s a market value of roughly $1.4 Billion!  Even for a Multi Billionaire like Bill Gates, that’s a good chunk of change no matter how you slice it.   As of August of 2011, Bill Gates is the largest shareholder of John Deere, he currently holds about 5-6% of the company.  That’s a lot of tractors.

Most recently (end of August), Mr. Gates via Cascade has increased his investment in Ecolab, Inc. (NYSE: ECL).  Making him the largest shareholder of Ecolab of nearly 10% of the company’s stock.

Since late 2010 Mr. Gates has been increasing his position in Western Asset/Claymore Inflation-linked Opportunities Income Fund (NYSE: WIW), AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE: AN), Republic Service, Inc. (NYSE: RSG).

Do you think that Bill Gates sits around studying market analysis, charting, financial forecasts and analysts recommendations? Do you believe he even listens to analysts? He might, but do you think he makes his own investment decisions while also being the busy man that he is?  Probably not.  He most likely has a great team that does most of the leg work, not to say that Mr. Bill can’t be successful at anything he puts his mind to.  But one man can only do so much.  Just ask my wife.

Cascade Investment, LLC is known for making long term investments.  Would you like to construct your long term portfolio like Bill Gates?  You can, in a way, by tracking insider filings made by Cascade, William H. Gates III, and even Bill & Linda Gates Foundation.

Here is a fairly recent list of  Cascade Investment, LLC, William H. Gates II and Bill & Linda Gates Foundation top holdings as of October 2011 according to SEC Filings:

The above holdings represent Multiple Billions of dollars.

If your trying to put together a long term portfolio yourself, one idea could be to find a large investor or fund that has an investment strategy that fits your needs, track their Form 4 filings and do your proper due diligence as to why that particular transaction was made.  You could feasibly put together a very nice long term performing portfolio of your own.  A great place to track insider transactions is at SEC Form 4.

So now you know what stock Bill Gates just bought $571 Million of and a few other things as well.

If your looking for high yield dividend investing, read our article “Little-known “loophole” could triple investing income“.

Remember, if you don’t have a plan for yourself, your probably part of someone else’s.

Happy due diligence! PennyMotion.