Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 4, 2024.
CNBC
Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway another piece unloaded Bank of America shares, bringing total sales since mid-July to more than $7 billion and reducing the stake to 11%.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate sold a total of 5.8 million BofA shares in separate sales on Friday, Monday and Tuesday for nearly $228.7 million at an average sales price of $39.45 per share, according to a new registration application.
The latest move extended Berkshire’s selling streak to twelve consecutive sessions, matching the twelve consecutive sessions from July 17 to August 1.
Berkshire has sold more than 174.7 million shares of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank for $7.2 billion, with 858.2 million shares remaining, or 11.1% of shares outstanding. BofA has fallen to third on Berkshire’s list of top companies, behind Apple and American Express. Before the selloff, BofA had long been Berkshire’s second-largest holding company.
Moynihan on Buffett
In 2011, Buffett bought $5 billion worth of BofA preferred stock and warrants in the wake of the financial crisis. He converted those warrants in 2017, making Berkshire BofA’s largest shareholder. The “Oracle of Omaha” then added another 300 million shares to his bet around 2018 and 2019.
BofA CEO Brian Moynihan made a rare comment on Berkshire’s sales on Tuesday, saying he has no knowledge of Buffett’s motivation for selling.
“I don’t know what exactly he does because, honestly, we can’t ask him. We wouldn’t ask that,” he said at the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference, according to a transcript on FactSet. “But on the other hand, the market absorbs the shares… we buy some of the shares, and so life goes on.”
Bank of America
Shares of BofA are down about 1% since the beginning of July, and the stock is up 16.7% this year, slightly outperforming the S&P 500.
Moynihan, who has led the bank since 2010, praised the 94-year-old’s smart investment in his bank in 2011, which helped boost confidence in the embattled lender struggling with losses from subprime mortgages.
“He has been a great investor for our company and stabilized our company when it was needed at the time,” Moynihan said.
To illustrate how lucrative Buffett’s investment has been, Moynihan said that if investors bought his bank shares on the same day as Buffett, they could have secured the low price of $5.50 per share. The stock last traded just below $40 each.
“He just had the guts to do it in a big way. And he did it. And it was a fantastic return for him. We’re happy he gets it,” Moynihan said.
— CNBC’s Alex Crippen contributed reporting.