Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has sold about $338 million of Bank of America stock this week. This is the 13th round of sales since mid-July. The average price was $39.40 per share.
Buffett has not said why he is selling the shares. Berkshire still owns 10.2% of Bank of America, worth more than $31 billion. It is the top shareholder.
The sales have slowed down in recent rounds. The average sale was about $750 million per round over the past few months.
Berkshire’s $338 million BofA trim
This week’s sale was less than half of that. Buffett, 94, has sold a total of about $10 billion of Bank of America stock since mid-July. He has also cut his stake in Apple by nearly 60% this year.
Some reasons for the sales could be:
– Taking profits after the stock price went up
– Rebalancing Berkshire’s portfolio
– Being less optimistic about Bank of America’s future
– Raising cash for other investments
Buffett first invested $5 billion in Bank of America in 2011. He got preferred stock and warrants to buy 700 million common shares. In 2017, he used the warrants to buy over $20 billion of stock for about $5 billion.
Berkshire must report the sales until its stake drops below 10%. After that, details will come out in quarterly filings. The company still has a diverse portfolio including railroads, insurance, and food brands.
