Also, keep in mind that portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler are still new and those new positions of under $200 million $300 million are likely tied to them.

24/7 Wall St. has gone through line by line of each position to see which stocks have been bought and sold as new positions, as well as having added in whether or not the number of shares grew or shrank on each since the prior quarter. We had added some color in on some of the positions if applicable.

Be advised that the number of subsidiaries that this filing covers is 14 entities rather than 18 entities in the prior quarter. There is also a note in the 13F filing showing that the SEC has granted “Confidential Treatment” on some Berkshire stock holdings and that likely suggests that Buffett is still acquiring a position he does not want the public to know about yet. This filing does not signal the half-dozen or more European shares that Buffett said he bought so that remains an outstanding issue as well.

The value of the stock portfolio was $66,151,587,000 at the end of 2011 and this was listed as $75,300,250,000 at the end of March 2012.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was over 151.6 million shares, SAME AS last quarter.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) is now 5.6 million shares, HIGHER THAN the 1,793,915 shares last quarter.

CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) is the SAME SIZE at 7.106 million shares after having been a new holding in a recent quarter and having been raised one quarter ago.

Coca Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) was right at 200 million shares, SAME AS BEFORE.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is roughly 29.1 million shares, roughly the SAME AS BEFORE but it is still lower than previous quarters in past reports.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) 4,333,363 Shares, SAME AS last quarter after having lowered it before.

Da Vita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) is now 6 million shares worth $541 million and that LARGER THAN BEFORE after having been a new position of 2.684 million shares.

DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is a LARGER POSITION listed at 22.999 million worth over $1.13 billion. This one had been 20.348 million shares worth $870 million one quarter earlier and it had been a new position just two quarters ago at 4.249 million shares.

We will be paying extra attention to the money center banks of Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC).  We will also be watching the bank holdings companies without any bank operations from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). On the trust bank side and fiduciary side, there is Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK), State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), and also Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS).

We have shown the most recent closing prices, added in the Thomson Reuters consensus price target objective, and added in a 52-week trading range.  We have then shown the tangible book value and/or the stated book value, depending upon what was available from each bank.  The book values were taken from January press releases as of the end of 2011, but a couple had to be taken from ycharts.com as they did not report their stated book values.  You will see some of the banks still trade at healthy discounts to their book value and to their tangible book values, while others now trade at premiums again.

Read Also: Tempered Expectations Going Into Earnings Season

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) recently closed at $8.93, its Thomson Reuters consensus target is currently $9.79, and the 52-week trading range is $4.92 to $13.64. The company most recently noted that its tangible book value per share was $12.95 at December 31, 2011, compared to $12.98 at December 31, 2010. The stated book value per share was $20.09 at December 31, 2011, compared to $20.99 at December 31, 2010.

Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) recently closed at $23.34, its Thomson Reuters consensus target is currently $25.67, and its 52-week range is $17.10 to $30.29.  The bank most recently noted that its book value was $27.62 at the end of 2011, down slightly from the $27.79 at the end of the third quarter but up from $26.06 at the end of 2010.  On a tangible book value per share, that figure was $10.57 at the end of 2011 versus $10.55 at the end of the third quarter and up from $8.91 at the end of 2010.

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) Raised to Hold at Soc-Gen.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (NASDAQ: MDRX) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ: FMCN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $55 at Credit Suisse.

Inergy L.P. (NYSE: NRGY) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

Kinder Morgan. Inc. (NYSE: KMI) Raised target price to $36 from $32 at Credit Suisse.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Loews Corporation (NYSE: L) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Started as Outperform at RBC.

OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Raised to Buy at Benchmark.

Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Raised estimates and maintained on Focus List at Credit Suisse.

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) Raised to Outperform at National Bank.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG

Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LMCA) is a NEW POSITION of 1.7 million shares worth some $132.7 million.
M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) is 5.38+ million shares, SAME AS last quarter.
Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was 405,000 shares, the SAME AS last quarter and up from the quarter before that.
Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was 28.4 million; SAME AS last quarter but way down from prior quarters and years.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) was 76.7 million shares, SAME AS last quarter but lower than the 96.3 million shares in prior quarters.
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was 4.06 million shares; SAME AS before.
Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) was more than 4.2 million, SAME AS last quarter after having been raised in a prior quarter.
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was roughly 69 million shares; SAME AS before.
USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) was 17.072 million shares; SAME AS before.
United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) was 1.429 million shares; SAME AS before.
Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSK) was already a LOWER POSITION at 3.445 million shares after being recently added as a new position and then grown.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a LARGER POSITION of 2.865 million shares worth $291 million; was 2.291 million shares previously.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was just over 39 million shares; SAME AS before after having been raised in 2010.
Washington Post (NYSE: WPO) was over 1.72 million shares; SAME AS before.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was a LARGER POSITION AGAIN at more than 383 million shares.

PAGE ONE…BUFFETT HOLDINGS ‘A to K’

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JON C. OGG

We have compiled basic earnings previews and shown Thomson Reuters estimates from the following: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS); State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT); Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK); U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB); Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS); American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS); and Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF).

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates have been coming down more than just marginally ahead of the expected earnings report.  It is no longer expected to have the name “Golden Slacks” attached as a nickname right now.  The current target is $1.24 EPS on $6.54 billion in sales, but the earnings targets were above $2.00 EPS recently and the street expected almost $3.00 just about 90 days ago.

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the consensus estimate for the trust and custodial bank is expected to rise about 8% to $0.94 EPS.  Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates are $0.53 EPS and $3.75 billion in revenues.  We will be waiting to see if any of the charges to trust and custodial customers taking the cash holdings operations to a cost rather than as an interest bearing account will have made a difference.  That seems to have gone away but it may have just been lost in the shuffle.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is expected to report earnings on Wednesday morning.  The estimates are $0.63 EPS on $4.76 billion in sales.  Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) is also due Wednesday morning and estimates are $0.68 EPS and $972.3 million.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) is due on Thursday after the close and earnings estimates are $0.98 EPS and $7.92 billion in sales.  As with the rest of the lenders and credit cards, we expect to hear continued improvements in credit metrics regarding the customer base.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is due to report on Thursday morning.  The most unpopular of the big ‘too big to fail’ money-center banks in America, has a consensus earnings estimate of $0.23 EPS on $24.08 billion in revenues.  This has been the best DJIA stock so far in 2012 even including the last two trading sessions.  It is a bit more than just interesting that earnings estimates have ratcheted higher over the last ten days when estimates elsewhere have been cut so much in banking.  The huge discount to book value is again likely to be less material than in years passed.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is set to report on Thursday morning as well.  Long gone is worrying about the relative book value and long gone is the comparison to Goldman Sachs.  Estimates are for a loss at -$0.57 EPS and $5.57 billion in revenues.

Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) is due to report earning on Thursday and this is the credit card bank “for the rest of America.”  The earnings report could be wildly far off of estimates because the bank is in the process of acquisitions which could greatly skew the headline numbers.  A fresh SEC filing showed that monthly data showed a continued improvement in default rates and in late payments in December. The consensus estimate is $1.55 EPS and $4.08 billion in sales.

JON C. OGG

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE: BZH) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE: MTH) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Raised to Sector Outperform at CIBC.
Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE: SF) Raised to Buy with $37 target at Goldman Sachs.
Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.

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M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) is 5.38+ million shares, UP ONLY A TAD from the 5.363 million last quarter but this one had been cut in prior quarters.
Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was 405,000 shares valued at $128.45 million.  The position is the SAME AS last quarter but still almost double from the quarter before.
Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was 28.4 million; SAME AS last quarter but way down from prior quarters and years.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) was 76.7 million shares and listed as THE SAME as last quarter but lower than the 96.3 million shares in prior quarters.
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was 4.06 million shares; SAME AS before.
Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) was more than 4.2 million, a LARGER POSITION than the 2.82 million shares last quarter.
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was roughly 69 million shares; SAME AS before.
USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) was 17.072 million shares; SAME AS before.
United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) was 1.429 million shares; SAME AS before.
Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSK) was ALMOST DOUBLE in shares at 4.202 million worth $146.1 million versus the 2,101,125 shares a quarter before when it had been started as a new position.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a NEW POSITION of 2.291 million shares worth $96.44 million.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was just over 39 million shares; SAME AS before after having been raised in 2010.
Washington Post (NYSE: WPO) was over 1.72 million shares; SAME AS before and Buffett kept his word so far about holding the Washington Post shares despite stepping down from its board.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) over 361 million shares a HIGHER POSITION than the 352+ million last quarter.

PAGE ONE…BUFFETT HOLDINGS ‘A to K’

As noted earlier… today’s holding disclosure has missing data as Berkshire Hathaway was given permission and likely still does not include the full holdings: Confidential information has been omitted from the Form 13F and filed separately with the Commission.

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The largest bank in the U.S., for now, is one of 17 financial firms being sued by the the Federal Housing Finance Agency for failing to disclose risks of mortgage-backed securities sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It appeared Moynihan had settled one of Bank of America’s most other critical challenges. The bank reached an agreement with large mortgage investors, which included Pimco and Blackrock (NYSE: BLK), over mortgage values. The cost of the settlement was to be $8.5 billion. The agreement was effectively blocked in federal court by a number of homeowners. There is a likelihood that more suits about Bank of America’s mortgage practices will be filed between now and year end.

No matter what Moynihan does, the market remains skeptical, which is why the bank’s board is increasingly likely to replace him. Even after Buffett’s investment and the China Bank of Construction sale, Bank of America’s shares are barely above $7. It traded for over $19 a year ago last April.

The number of people qualified to run a huge international bank is relatively small. The number that Wall St. would approve of is much smaller. Based on skills and recent accomplishments, these are the six people most likely to be approached for the job.

Heidi Miller was one of Jamie Diamond’s long-time senior operating executives. Miller has been named American Banker’s most powerful female bank executive. Miller has also been on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women list . More important than the praise are her success at JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) and her availability. Miller “retired” recently as the head of JPMorgan International. She ran the bank’s Treasury and Security Services, and sat on the bank’s 15-person operating committee.

Susan Wagner is the Vice Chairman of Blackrock, arguably the best-run publicly traded financial company in the U.S. Wagner is also a member of the corporate Risk Committee at Blackrock. Blackrock is the world’s largest money manager and oversees $3.6 trillion. Her mentor has been Wall St. legend Laurence Fink. Wagner may be able to rely on her relationships with several powerful members of the Blackrock board, which includes the head of Barclays and former CEO of Merrill Lynch, which Bank of America bought during the credit crisis. Her risk management background is critical.

Michael L. Corbat is CEO of Citi Holdings, which is the “bad bank” created in 2009 to wall off some of Citigroup’s (NYSE: C) less desirable assets. Corbat’s management experience is as broad as anyone’s in the bank business. He was an investment banker for most of his career. He then ran the huge Global Wealth Management division at Citigroup. And he took on Citi’s weakest portfolio companies — the CitiFinancial and CitiMortgage finance operations, Primerica insurance unit, and, in addition, $300 billion of distressed assets.

Richard K. Davis is the CEO U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), which is the sixth largest bank in the U.S. U.S. Bancorp has been considered one of the best run American banks for years. It did not get into many of the risky businesses that its larger peers did, and its stock was not nearly as badly hurt as those of other large banks during the credit crisis. Research firm Morningstar recently wrote, “U.S. Bancorp is in a league of its own. Its large fee-based businesses, conservative underwriting, and management’s ability to recognize opportunity during crisis set the company apart from its peers.”

Frank P. Bramble, Sr., is the former vice chairman of MBNA, and is a current Bank of America board member. He held the vice chairman’s job when Bank of America bought the company in 2005 for $35 billion. When the federal government orchestrated a restructuring of the Bank of America board, which included the addition of four new members, Bramble was well-regarded enough to be retained. Bramble has been head of the U.S. operations of Allied Irish Bank Group and chairman of Allfirst Financial. Perhaps the thing that recommends him the most to be head of Bank of America is his experience as a long-time board member.

John Mack is the best candidate to run Bank of America and the least likely to take the job. He is the chairman of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and was its CEO during the credit crisis. He is widely credited with actions that kept the investment firm independent when bank stocks collapsed. Mack has been co-CEO of Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) and chief executive of Credit Suisse First Boston. Mack is the current dean of Wall St. leadership. If he were to take the CEO job at Bank of America, it would be viewed even more positively than Warren Buffett’s investment.

Douglas A. McIntyre

• Read The Ten Best Cities For Educated Workers

However, there are a number of metropolitan areas in the country that have exceptionally small education gaps, or “shortages of educated workers relative to employer demand,” according to the report “Education, Demand, and Unemployment in Metropolitan America” by the Brookings Institution. These areas tend to have a large number of highly educated workers available to meet rising demand.

As a result, these cities often have lower unemployment rates than the national average, which was 9.1% as of July 2011. “Highly educated metropolitan areas like Salt Lake City, Raleigh, Indianapolis, and Knoxville have avoided very high unemployment rates despite having high concentrations of jobs in industries that were hit hard during the recession,” Jonathan Rothwell, one of the report’s authors, told 24/7 Wall St. “The reason, in large part, is that the average worker in those areas has enough education to meet the needs of the average job.” In cities such as Boston and Madison, which are major educational hubs, a cycle is formed. They produce lots of educated people and provide lots of jobs for educated people.

There are still some cities with small education gaps that do not have exceptionally low unemployment rates. This is the result of unavoidable economic forces. San Francisco, for instance, was badly damaged when the housing bubble burst — the same crash that has hurt so much of California. San Jose’s unemployment rate remains high because its manufacturing base was hit especially hard during the recession.

24/7 Wall St. has analyzed the ten metropolitan areas in the Brookings report with the smallest education gaps. We looked at what causes these areas to have highly educated residents and how their education levels are affecting the areas’ unemployment rates. We then looked at numbers for median household income from the Census Bureau, all of which were higher than the national average of $51,425.

These are the cities where people are most qualified to work.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) knew of a suit by AIG (NYSE: AIG) since early this year, but did not disclose it. (Reuters)

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Russia’s Rosneft set a deal to seek oil and natural gas in the Arctic Circle area controlled by Russia. (Reuters)

A member of Congress says Irene relief must be offset by budget cuts. (Reuters)

Brent trades at $114 on hope of a U.S. stimulus package. (Reuters)

AT&T (NYSE: T) promises to add 5,000 jobs if its buyout of T-Mobile is approved. (Reuters)

Sony (NYSE: SNE), Toshiba and Hitachi (NYSE: HIT) to merge their small display units. (Reuters)

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to resume making TouchPad tablets. (Reuters)

Bank of America to get out of the mortgage correspondent business. (WSJ)

The SEC to review certain Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) deals done overseas. (WSJ)

Traders in oil and other commodities may have to reveal details of their trades. (WSJ)

Fitch posts a warning about China’s banking system. (WSJ)

The National Labor Relations Board sides with unions in several recent cases, which draws criticism from some in Congress. (WSJ)

A demand by Finland for collateral before a bailout of Greece may still derail plans. (WSJ)

Nook sales help Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) earnings. (WSJ)

Carl Icahn to sell his shares in Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF).  (WSJ)

A new version of Boeing’s (NYSE: BA) 737 to be launched in 2017; the company says it has 496 commitments to purchase them. (WSJ)

EU banks raise $17.4 billion with an instrument similar to mortgage-backed securities. (WSJ)

The International Accounting Standards Board says some EU banks have not written down Greek loans enough. (WSJ)

Home builders may run out of capital as the housing market enters a fifth year of falling prices. (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) to supply Zipcar autos for use on college campuses. (NYT)

US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) sues to block an $8.5 billion mortgage settlement from Bank of America. (FT)

Sony to release a line of tablet PCs to challenge Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre