Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Continues Bank of America Sell-Off

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has continued his selling streak of Bank of America (BAC) shares, with his latest sale nearing 22 million shares.

Between September 20 and September 24, Berkshire sold BAC stocks valued at around $863 million, bringing the total value of shares sold to $9 billion, according to TipRanks data.

This recent sale follows Buffett’s earlier transactions, where Berkshire sold 22.3 million BAC shares a week prior, generating $896 million. Before that, the company had sold 5.8 million BAC shares between September 6 and 10, worth $228.65 million at the time.

Berkshire Hathaway, which remains Bank of America’s largest shareholder, began its series of stock sales in mid-July 2023. After these recent transactions, Berkshire’s stake in the bank has dropped to 10.5%.

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Although Buffett hasn’t commented on the rationale for these sales, Haruki Toyama, a portfolio manager at Madison Investments, does not interpret it as a bearish signal, suggesting that Buffett’s actions likely aren’t based on an extreme market view. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan praised Buffett as a stabilizing force for the company but admitted uncertainty over why he is reducing his position.

As of now, Bank of America shares are priced at $39.13, reflecting a 0.24% drop for the day and a 3.53% decline over the past week. The stock has lost 1.97% in the past month but still shows a year-to-date gain of 15.25%.

Buffett’s latest BAC sales may be part of his ongoing trend of reducing exposure to the U.S. banking sector, following previous exits from positions in Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp, and Bank of New York Mellon.

Kosta Gushterov