Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has sold another chunk of Bank of America shares. The sales total more than $7 billion since mid-July and reduce Berkshire’s stake to 11%. The conglomerate sold 5.8 million BofA shares in separate sales on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday for almost $228.7 million.
The average selling price was $39.45 per share. The latest sales extended Berkshire’s selling streak to 12 consecutive sessions. This matches a previous streak from July 17 to Aug.
1. In total, Berkshire has sold more than 174.7 million shares of the bank for $7.2 billion. This leaves it with 858.2 million shares remaining, or 11.1% of shares outstanding.
As a result, BofA has slipped to the No. 3 spot on Berkshire’s list of top holdings. BofA CEO Brian Moynihan commented on Berkshire’s sales during the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference.
He said he has no knowledge of Buffett’s motivation for selling.
Buffett’s continued BofA share sales
“I don’t know what exactly he’s doing because frankly, we can’t ask him.
We wouldn’t ask,” Moynihan said. “But on the other hand, the market’s absorbing the stock… we’re buying a portion of the stock, and so life will go on.”
Shares of BofA have dipped just about 1% since the start of July.
The stock is up 16.7% this year, slightly outperforming the S&P 500. Moynihan praised the 94-year-old’s investment in his bank in 2011. It helped shore up confidence in the embattled lender struggling with losses tied to subprime mortgages.
“He’s been a great investor for our company and stabilized our company when we needed it at the time,” Moynihan said. He noted that if investors had bought BofA stock the same day Buffett did, they would have captured the low price of $5.50 per share. The stock last traded just under $40 apiece.
“He just had the guts to do it in a big way. And he did it. And it’s been a fabulous return for him.
We’re happy that he gets it,” Moynihan said.
