Warren Buffett is Offloading Billions of This Stock

Berkshire Hathaway, led by CEO Warren Buffett, recently sold about $1.5 billion of Bank of America (BAC) stock, reducing its stake to $42.9 billion, according to a filing late Friday.

In the period from Wednesday to Friday, Berkshire sold nearly 34 million shares, and now owns approximately 999 million shares. This sale comes at a time when Bank of America shares have surged 7 percent in the past month, reaching a 52-week high of more than $44 following its second-quarter earnings report.

Bank of America shares fell 1.2 percent to $42.40 in premarket trading Monday. The sale brings Berkshire’s stake in the bank to about 12.8%.

The reduction in the company’s stake in Bank of America is notable, as Buffett had not previously changed that stake while selling stakes in other banking institutions.

Berkshire is reducing or eliminating its stakes in several banks, including Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, U.S. Bancorp and Bank of New York Mellon. The decision to sell some of the VoA shares is seen as Buffett taking advantage of the stock’s recent run-up.