NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway on Wednesday disclosed that it had acquired a 23.31 million-share stake in U.S. Bancorp, the sixth-largest U.S. bank.
Berkshire also said it increased its stake in Wells Fargo (Charts), the fifth-largest bank, to 218.17 million shares, or 6.5 percent, at year end from 190.64 million three months earlier.
Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire disclosed its year-end holdings in several Securities and Exchange Commission filings. It reported $52.78 billion of stock investments.
The stake in Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp (Charts) was worth $843.49 million as of Dec. 31 and represented about 1.3 percent of shares outstanding.
According to Wednesday filings, Berkshire had begun buying U.S. Bancorp stock by the first quarter of 2006 and stopped buying shares in the third quarter.
U.S. Bancorp did not immediately return a call seeking comment. A spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo declined to comment.
Regulators sometimes let Berkshire delay disclosing some buying so investors cannot copy it.
Buffett is known as the "Oracle of Omaha" for his investing prowess. He is the world's richest person other than Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and generally favors companies with stable, easy-to-understand businesses that are industry leaders and whose shares appear undervalued.
Berkshire owns large stakes in many well-known companies, including American Express (Charts), Coca-Cola (Charts) and Procter & Gamble.
It had obtained a 12.2 percent stake in Ameriprise when American Express spun that company off in September 2005. Berkshire ended 2006 with a 3.4 percent stake in Ameriprise.
Buffett has said he would like to make more acquisitions and investments to reduce Berkshire's cash stake, which totaled $42.25 billion at the end of September.
In Wednesday filings, Berkshire also said it eliminated stakes in Outback Steakhouse operator OSI Restaurant Partners and packaging company Sealed Air, and it reported lowered stakes in cable TV operator Comcast and home retailer Pier 1 Imports.
It reported a new 636,600-share stake in diversified manufacturer Ingersoll-Rand and a larger stake in building materials maker USG.
