news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

buffett sold bank of america again.

in the latest round of selling, buffett's berkshire hathaway sold about 18.75 million shares of bank of america, worth about $760 million. in addition, buffett sold nearly half of his top holding, apple, in the second quarter. such a large-scale selling behavior has caused market concerns.

sold for another $760 million

documents disclosed by the u.s. securities and exchange commission on the evening of september 5 local time showed that berkshire hathaway sold about 18.75 million shares of bank of america between september 3 and september 5, with an average price of about $40.55 per share and a total value of about $760 million. on thursday local time, bank of america fell 0.89% to close at $40.14. affected by the sell-off, the company's stock price continued to fall, down about 10% from its july high.

buffett has been selling bank of america shares since mid-july and has reduced his holdings by nearly $7 billion. however, he still holds more than 863 million shares of bank of america. based on the latest closing price, the holdings are worth approximately $34.7 billion.

as a shareholder holding more than 10% of the shares, berkshire must report its stock purchases and sales within two days. if it chooses to continue selling, berkshire's stake in bank of america may fall below the 10% regulatory threshold, which means that its subsequent operations on bank of america may not be disclosed quickly, but will be revealed in the next quarterly report.

barron's earlier reported that buffett may stop selling at 700 million shares, which was the original number of shares berkshire held when it first acquired a stake in bank of america in 2017.

market speculation on selling motivations

bank of america is not the only company that has seen its holdings reduced by the "stock god". berkshire's second quarter u.s. stock holdings report showed that the company cut its apple position in half, from 790 million shares to 400 million shares. as of the end of the quarter, the market value of its holdings was $84.2 billion.

apple and bank of america are berkshire's first and second largest holdings, respectively, and such sell-offs have caused market concern.

doug cass, a columnist for thestreet pro, said in an analysis: "selling 'long-term holdings' stocks like apple and bank of america is not like buffett's style." cass said the sell-off may reflect buffett's pessimistic view of the u.s. economy and market.

however, haruki toyama, portfolio manager and head of the mid- and large-cap team at madison investments, told fortune that he does not think buffett's selling of stocks is a clear bearish signal for the market. he said: "buffett is just looking at his stocks and selling when he feels they are expensive, and he does not necessarily feel the need to reinvest."

toyama also believes that berkshire's cash-raising efforts should not be completely ignored, and the company's cash reserves have continued to swell in recent quarters, which may be a sign that buffett and company believe the stock is slightly overvalued.