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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!

recently, the u.s. securities and exchange commission (sec) disclosed thatbuffett'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 "crumbling".

as early as july this year, buffett had already begun reducing his holdings in bank of america, his second largest holding, and cashed out us$3.8 billion in 12 consecutive trading days.

after a half-month of "quietness", buffett again sold about 14 million shares of bank of america, worth about us$550 million, from the 15th to the 19th of this month.

as of now, berkshire has sold about 120 million shares of bank of america this year and still holds about 903 million shares of bank of america. based on the latest price of us$39.67 per share, the value of the holdings is about us$35.8 billion.

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.

speculations about the reasons include:bank of america's valuation is too high, and buffett may be preparing for the federal reserve's monetary policy shift. in recent years, berkshire has liquidated stocks of many banks, including u.s. bancorp, wells fargo, and bank of new york mellon.

in addition, documents disclosed by warren buffett's berkshire hathaway show that in the second quarter of this year, berkshire's largest reduction was in apple (aapl), with more than 389 million shares reduced in the quarter, with a market value of approximately us$82 billion. the number of shares held decreased by 49.3% from the first quarter, and the proportion of its portfolio decreased by more than 10 percentage points from the previous quarter to 30.52%. the above data is consistent with the second quarter data released by berkshire in early august.

as for the reason for reducing apple's holdings, buffett said at the berkshire shareholders meeting in may this year that the reduction in apple's stock holdings was due to tax reasons after the investment made considerable profits, rather than based on long-term judgments on the stock. apple is very likely to remain berkshire's largest single stock at the end of 2024.buffett said,berkshire hathaway will continue to hold shares of apple, coca-cola and american express for a long time. buffett pointed out that if the u.s. government raises capital gains taxes in the future to make up for the rising fiscal deficit, selling "some apple" this year will benefit berkshire shareholders in the long run.

snowflake (snow), an american cloud computing company, was the second largest berkshire hathaway stock to be sold off in the second quarter, after apple. berkshire hathaway sold off a total of 6.12 million shares at the end of the first quarter, with a market value of approximately $840 million. however, this portion of shares is relatively small in berkshire hathaway's investment portfolio, accounting for only 0.03%. in addition, media group paramount universal was also sold off by berkshire hathaway during the reporting period.

during the reporting period, berkshire hathaway acquired positions in two new companies, namely, ulta beauty, the largest beauty retailer in the united states. during the quarter, berkshire hathaway established a position of 690,000 shares of ulta beauty, with a market value of approximately us$266 million; and heico corporation, a military stock. during the quarter, it established a position of 1.04 million shares of hei.

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