Berkshire Hathaway Takes Stake in Ulta Beauty

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. added small stakes in retail cosmetics chain Ulta Beauty Inc. and aerospace company Heico Corp. during the second quarter, amid the conglomerate’s broader selling spree.

Berkshire added 690,106 shares of Ulta and 1.04 million shares of Heico, according to a regulatory filing. Its stake in Ulta was worth about $227 million, based on Wednesday’s closing price, while the Heico shares were valued at roughly $247 million.

Shares of Bolingbrook, Illinois-based Ulta surged 12 percent to $369.25 in extended trading at 4:50 p.m. in New York. Heico advanced 2.8 percent.

Berkshire had already disclosed the biggest changes in its equity portfolio when it reported financial results on Aug. 3. It slashed its holding in Apple Inc. by almost 50 percent as part of a massive second-quarter selling spree. In all, Berkshire sold $75.5 billion of stock on a net basis in the period. Apple remained its biggest holding at midyear.

Berkshire has also pared its stake in Bank of America Corp., trimming that position by 8.8 percent since mid-July, Bloomberg calculations show.

The conglomerate’s cash pile stood at a record $276.9 billion at the end of June, and Berkshire has struggle to deploy it as share prices soared and deal activity stagnated. At the firm’s annual shareholder meeting in May, Buffett said he wasn’t in a rush to spend it “unless we think we’re doing something that has very little risk and can make us a lot of money.”

By Amanda Cantrell

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