Warren Buffett sells Bank of America shares, shares fall
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) outsold Bank of America (BAC.N), raising sales to more than $3 billion this month, booking a profit after the stock price of the second-largest US bank soared.
Berkshire sold 18.4 million Bank of America shares worth $767 million between July 25 and July 29, according to a regulatory filing late Monday.
The company has sold 71.2 million shares worth $3.05 billion since July 17, reducing its holdings in the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender by 6.9% to 961.5 million shares.
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Buffett's conglomerate remains Bank of America's largest shareholder with a 12.4% stake, opening a new account worth $39.5 billion as of Wednesday's close.
Berkshire and Bank of America declined to comment Tuesday. Bank of America shares were up 1.9% in morning trading but have fallen since Berkshire began selling.
Bank of America's share price has risen by nearly two-thirds since the end of October. The stock trades at 1.2 times book value after trading below book value for most of the last decade.
Buffett has long supported the leadership of Brian Moynihan, who has been the bank's CEO since 2010.
Berkshire bought $5 billion of Bank of America preferred stock in 2011 as some investors worried whether the bank would have enough capital after liquidating huge mortgage and legal liabilities left over from the 2008 financial crisis.
In 2017, Buffett swapped preferred stock for common stock after the warrants were executed and ended up spending $14.6 billion, opens a new Bank of America stock tab. Those shares were worth more than $45 billion when Berkshire's sale began.
The sales come just over a year after the 93-year-old billionaire praised Bank of America and Moynihan, while Berkshire sold shares of other banks.
“I really like Brian Moynihan,” Buffett said in an interview with CNBC. opens new tab in April 2023. "I don't want to sell it."
Berkshire is also selling Apple (AAPL.O), opens a new tab, selling about 115 million shares in the first quarter.
The company may reveal more sales data when it reports second-quarter results on Saturday.
At Berkshire's annual meeting on May 4, Buffett said he expected the iPhone maker to remain Berkshire's largest stock investment, but the sale made sense because the 21% federal income tax rate was likely to rise.
Berkshire is based in Omaha, Nebraska. Its dozens of businesses include Geico auto insurance and BNSF railroad.
