"stock god" buffett, sold again! i don’t even want to buy more of my own stocks.
2024-10-05
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the latest information released by the u.s. securities and exchange commission (sec) shows that in the first three trading days of this week (september 30 to october 2), “stock god” buffett’s berkshire hathaway (hereinafter referred to as berkshire hill) sold a total of more than 8.54 million shares of bank of america stock for approximately us$337.9 million, with transaction prices ranging from us$39.3994 to us$39.6141 per share.
less than a week ago, according to regulatory documents from the u.s. securities and exchange commission, berkshire sold 11,678,366 shares of bank of america stock from september 25 to 27, cashing out $460.7 million.
bank of america stocks sold off for 3 consecutive months
as of october 2, berkshire still held 794 million shares of bank of america, with its shareholding ratio falling to around 10.2%, which is close to the "regulatory critical point" of 10%.
according to relevant regulations of the us sec, when berkshire's shareholding ratio falls below 10%, it will no longer be required to disclose its transactions within two working days as it does now, but will instead disclose its transactions quarterly. analysts believe that buffett is likely to continue to "silently" reduce his position in bank of america after reducing his holdings to less than 10%.
in fact, buffett began to reduce his holdings of bank of america stocks in july this year. he has reduced his holdings more than ten times and cashed out nearly 10 billion u.s. dollars in total. he seems to be clearing out his positions. however, even after three consecutive months of selling, based on bank of america's latest closing price of $39.23, berkshire's remaining shares in the bank are worth more than $31 billion, making it still the largest shareholder of bank of america.
however, buffett has yet to explain why he is reducing berkshire's large holdings in bank of america.
it is understood that in 2011, buffett launched an investment in bank of america through a us$5 billion preferred stock and warrant transaction. subsequently, bank of america became berkshire's second-largest holding, behind apple. in recent years, berkshire has successively cleared stocks of many banks, including u.s. bank, wells fargo, and bank of new york mellon.
or target japanese financial and shipping stocks
it is worth mentioning that berkshire this week entrusted banks to issue a yen bond in the global market, indicating that buffett may increase his holdings in japan. buffett said in his annual letter in february that most of his previous investments in japanese stocks were financed through yen bonds.
market observers said berkshire's return to the yen bond market has fueled speculation that buffett may raise funds to invest in japan, where it is thought he may be considering buying japanese financial companies and shipping companies.
eiji kiuchi, chief technical analyst at daiwa securities, believes insurance companies and shipping companies may be buffett's next targets. he said in a research note this week that although trading company stocks rose after the announcement of the bond issuance, they did not lead the overall market by a large margin. instead, he said, shipping and insurance companies have led the topix index's gains since august and may be in line with buffett's value investing strategy.
nomura securities senior strategist takashi ito also said that buffett is very likely to buy financial stocks. "the fundamentals of japan's financial industry are strong, which meets buffett's standards." takashi ito believes that the bank of japan's policy shift to raising interest rates will improve the industry's profit margins.
however, some buffett watchers believe his focus may still be on trading companies, given berkshire's recent sale of bank of america stock.
"it's hard for me to imagine him selling bank stocks in the u.s. market while buying japanese bank stocks outside the market he's familiar with," said mineo, president and ceo of bito financial services.
recently, some netizens suggested that buffett buy chinese assets. in fact, buffett has publicly stated before that china's capital market is a better choice.
i don’t even want to buy more of my own stocks.
in fact, buffett has significantly reduced his holdings of various stocks in recent months.
according to the report, berkshire reduced its holdings of apple by more than 389 million shares in the second quarter, with a market value of approximately us$82 billion (approximately 580 billion yuan). the number of shares held decreased by 49.3% compared with the first quarter, and its proportion in the investment portfolio decreased sequentially. more than 10 percentage points.
in addition, berkshire also cleared 6.12 million shares ($840 million) of cloud computing star snowflake, reduced its holdings of 4.37 million shares ($680 million) of chevron, and reduced its holdings of 2.65 million shares ($367 million) of financial holding company cof …
it is worth noting that buffett has sold net stocks for seven consecutive quarters, and the total size of his overall u.s. stock holdings has shrunk. as of the end of june, berkshire's cash reserves were close to us$277 billion (approximately 1.95 trillion yuan). this huge amount of cash mainly came from the large sales of stocks, especially apple stocks.
not only that, buffett is not even willing to buy more of his own stocks. berkshire disclosed in august that share repurchases had slowed significantly recently after large buybacks in previous quarters. berkshire repurchased about $345 million in shares in the second quarter, its smallest quarterly repurchase since 2018, according to the filing.
"all in all, buffett seems to think the best investments right now are cash and treasury bonds," said aash shah, investment director and senior portfolio manager at summit global investments.
previously, at the 2024 annual shareholder meeting, buffett made it clear that holding large amounts of cash is "quite attractive" relative to the funds available in the stock market and conflicts around the world. "we're happy to spend money, but it has to be (the business being acquired or invested in) doing something that has very little risk and makes us a lot of money."
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