Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Sells $6.97 Billion in Bank of America Shares and Trims Apple Stake

Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, has been selling a significant number of Bank of America shares since mid-July, making a total of $6.97 billion from these sales, according to Bloomberg News.

A recent regulatory filing on Thursday revealed that Berkshire Hathaway sold an additional $760 million worth of Bank of America shares since Tuesday. Despite these sales, Berkshire is still the largest shareholder of the bank, holding about 11% of the company, which is valued at $34.7 billion based on the latest closing price.

On Thursday, Bank of America’s share price fell by 0.89%, closing at $40.14 per share.

Buffett started investing in Bank of America in 2011 with a $5 billion investment in preferred stock and warrants. If Berkshire keeps selling, its ownership in Bank of America could drop below the 10% regulatory limit, which currently requires Buffett to disclose his transactions within a few days, as reported by Bloomberg News.

If their stake falls below that 10% threshold, Buffett could delay announcing the sales, usually reporting them after each quarter instead.

Buffett has always praised the bank’s management and increased his stake over the years, but he hasn’t publicly explained why he’s now reducing his shares in the company.

Buffett Reduces Apple Shares

Buffett is also cutting down his stakes in other big stocks, possibly due to changing market conditions or valuations that no longer meet his investment strategies.

For the quarter ending in June 2024, Berkshire Hathaway sold a large portion of its Apple shares, which has been one of its biggest holdings for a long time. The company has been gradually reducing its top holdings since October 2022, but the selling pace picked up in 2024.

As per the latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Berkshire Hathaway sold over 389 million Apple shares in the second quarter, which is about 50% of its stake in the tech giant.