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"the oracle of omaha" buffett strikes again, this time by selling off bank of america shares in a "clearance-style" manner!

between august 23 and august 27, buffett's berkshire hathaway sold about $981.9 million of bank of america shares. between the 15th and 19th of this month, buffett just sold about $550 million of bank of america shares.

documents disclosed by the u.s. securities and exchange commission (sec) show that buffett's berkshire hathaway sold approximately 24.7 million shares of bank of america common stock between august 23 and august 27, with a transaction amount of approximately us$981.9 million.

berkshire began investing in bank of america for a long time in 2011 and is the largest shareholder of bank of america. buffett has long been a vote of confidence in the leadership of bank of america ceo brian moynihan.

but now, this trust seems to be "shaky." as early as july this year, the 93-year-old legendary investor had already begun to reduce his holdings in bank of america, his second largest holding, and cashed out $3.8 billion in 12 consecutive trading days.

after a half-month of "quietness", buffett once again sold about 14 million shares of bank of america between the 15th and 19th of this month, worth about $550 million. so far, berkshire has sold about 120 million shares of bank of america this year, and still holds about 903 million shares of bank of america. calculated at the latest price of $39.67 per share, the value of the holdings is about $35.8 billion.

the reporter found that in recent years, berkshire has gradually liquidated the stocks of many banks, including u.s. bancorp, wells fargo, and bank of new york mellon.

why is berkshire hathaway frequently selling bank of america shares?

so far, buffett himself has remained silent on his reasons and intentions for reducing his stake in bank of america.

however, speculation has already arisen, with market speculations including that bank of america's valuation is too high and that buffett may be preparing for a shift in the federal reserve's monetary policy.

after the release of the us july inflation and retail sales data, the market's expectations for the fed's interest rate cut gradually returned to rationality. "with the recent release of relevant us data, the market's expectations for the risk of a us recession have fallen rapidly," said kristina hooper, chief global market strategist at invesco.

entering august, more economic data began to support the us interest rate cut, and the federal reserve also continued to send signals to the outside world that it would cut interest rates. at the jackson hole global central bank annual meeting held last week, federal reserve chairman powell sent the strongest signal of interest rate cuts so far.

powell's "dovish" voice was loud and clear, and other fed officials also responded, saying that a rate cut is coming. philadelphia fed president harker, chicago fed president goolsbee, atlanta fed president bostic and others expressed their views on the september rate cut before and after powell's speech. earlier, minneapolis fed president kashkari and san francisco fed president daly also expressed their views that us inflation is under control and that a rate cut is imminent.

judging from its stock price, bank of america has risen by nearly 20% this year, and hit a two-year high in mid-last month. its current total market value has reached us$307.8 billion.

in fact, buffett also suffered a setback at bank of america.

berkshire's first purchase of bank of america shares can be traced back to the second quarter of 2007. at that time, buffett bought 8.7 million shares of bank of america at a price close to $50 per share, and then further increased his holdings. however, with the outbreak of the financial crisis, the market began to go downhill, and buffett finally cleared all his positions in bank of america in the fourth quarter of 2010.

in 2011, buffett regrouped and invested $5 billion in bank of america, when its stock price was around $6 per share.

in this transaction, buffett received preferred shares with an annual interest payment of 6%, and at the same time, they can be converted into 700 million common shares at a price of $7.14 per share for a period of 10 years. in 2017, buffett exercised the conversion right, and bank of america's stock price had risen to $24 per share at that time. this move created a substantial book profit for berkshire and became a major highlight for buffett personally.

after several adjustments, berkshire has gradually become the largest shareholder of bank of america, and bank of america is also the company's second largest holding after apple.

until last year, buffett began to adjust his bets and investments in the financial industry, but he still maintained his "persistence" in bank of america. he once publicly stated that bank of america is worth keeping, "i like moynihan very much, i just don't want to sell it."