New York, NY, Aug 15—Berkshire Hathaway bought a stake in diversified manufacturer Honeywell International in the second quarter, and sold shares in banking companies Citigroup, SunTrust Banks, U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co.

Berkshire bought 2.25 million Honeywell shares, worth about $83 million, in the second quarter, according to Berkshire's latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Berkshire now owns about 0.3% of Honeywell, whose $43 billion takeover by General Electric Co. was blocked by European regulators in July.

The new stake is only a small part of the $29 billion or so that Berkshire holds in U.S. stocks. Those holdings are largely controlled by Buffett, known as the Sage of Omaha for his astute investing. Buffett, who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, is the world's second richest man behind Microsoft's Bill Gates, with a personal fortune of about $32 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

Apart from Honeywell, Berkshire bought no other significant chunks of shares in the quarter. That’s in line with Buffett's often stated preference for buying whole companies rather than stakes. Berkshire has bought eight other companies in the past year or so, and has three more deals awaiting completion.

Berkshire sold shares in several companies in the quarter, mostly reducing stakes in U.S. banks. It also sold 220,000 shares in defense contractor General Dynamics Corp., worth about $18 million.

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