Feb. 15 - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reported increased holdings of $10.1 billion Thursday, including higher stakes in McDonald's Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Gates' foundation also reported new holdings as of Dec. 31 of Comcast Corp., with 1.6 million Class A shares, and Clean Harbors Inc., with 73,076 shares, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In all, the foundation reported holdings in 47 securities at the end of last year.
The foundation also reported substantially increasing its stake in McDonald's to 3.56 million shares from the 790,000 it reported holding as of Sept. 30. In addition, the foundation boosted its holding of Wal-Mart stock to 4.5 million shares from the 1 million shares it held at the end of the previous quarter.
The foundation also reported a slightly higher stake in Exxon Mobil Corp., with 3.79 million shares at the end of Dec. compared with 3.54 million shares at the end of September.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the foundation had reported holding 56 securities with a total value of about $9.12 billion.
In a separate filing, Cascade Investment LLC - Gates' investment vehicle - reported holdings valued at $4.26 billion at the end of last year, including newly disclosed stakes in Coca-Cola FEMSA and Fomento Economico Mexicano.
The following table shows the holdings, as of December 31, for Gates' investment vehicle, Cascade Investment LLC, and the change in those shares from Sept. 30.
Company Title of Class Shares Change
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC DEL CL A 4,050 0
CANADIAN NATL RY CO COM 33,859,544 2,424,799
COCA-COLA FEMSA S.A.B SPON ADR Rep L 77,259 77,259
FISHER COMMUNICATIONS INC COM 455,700 0
FOMENTO ECONOMICO MEXICANO SAB DE CV SPON ADR Units 10,810,000 10,810,000
GRUPO TELEVISA SA DE CV SP ADR REP ORD 19,680,400 241,200
OTTER TAIL CORP COM 2,556,499 0
PACIFIC ETHANOL INC COM 1,000 0
PNM RES INC COM 7,019,550 500,000
PLANETOUT INC COM 521,739 0
REPUBLIC SVCS INC COM 27,192,451 0
SIX FLAGS INC COM 10,210,600 0
SIX FLAGS INC PIERS 500,000 0
WESTERN ASSET CLAYMORE COM SH BEN INT 2,270,200 0
WESTERN ASSET/CLYMRE COM 4,113,800 0