According to a public document released on Friday, between July 17th and 19th, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway completed several transactions, selling approximately 34 million shares of Bank of America worth about $1.48 billion (approximately RMB 10.78 billion) at execution prices ranging from $43.13 to $44.07 per share.
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After this reduction, Berkshire Hathaway still holds approximately 999 million shares of Bank of America, worth over $42 billion, making it the second-largest holding in Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio after Apple.
As of the latest, the market value of Bank of America is as high as $335.5 billion. Over the past month, Bank of America's stock price has risen by 7.9%, with a cumulative increase of 26.55% so far this year.
As Berkshire's second largest holding, Bank of America is also one of Berkshire's most profitable companies. Buffett's investment in Bank of America began after the 2011 financial crisis, when he invested $5 billion in Bank of America's preferred stock and obtained the right to purchase common stock, which had a dividend yield of 6% and an annual income of $300 million.
Some analysts say that this investment not only injected confidence into Bank of America, but also created huge book profits, causing the bank's stock price to soar quickly. However, these preferred shares also come with warrants to subscribe for 700 million shares of Bank of America common stock at a price of $7.14 per share.
In 2017, Buffett ultimately used the aforementioned rights and made additional stock purchases, increasing his holdings of Bank of America shares at a much lower price of $7.14 per share, making it one of Berkshire Hathaway's largest holdings. Since his initial investment, Buffett has increased his holdings by over 300 million shares.
In 2023, due to concerns about the industry caused by the collapse of several highly anticipated banks, Buffett and his team sold shares of several different banks, but he never sold any shares of his Bank of America. At the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders' meeting that year, Buffett reiterated his strong admiration for the management of the bank.
It is worth noting that Buffett's latest holdings have also been exposed recently. On May 15th local time, Berkshire Hathaway submitted a 13F filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission website, which showed that the company sold 116 million shares of Apple in the first quarter. As of March 31, Berkshire Hathaway holds 789 million shares of Apple, currently worth approximately $155 billion, accounting for about 40% of Berkshire Hathaway's stock investment portfolio.
In addition, in the first quarter, Berkshire also reduced its holdings of HP, Chevron, and Paramount Global. During the quarter, Berkshire sold approximately 23 million shares of HP stock, completely liquidating its holdings in HP. At the same time, it also reduced its holdings of 3.11 million shares of Chevron stock and sold approximately 55.8 million shares of Paramount Global stock.
Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway's previously kept secret stock, Chubb Insurance, was also revealed. The documents show that since the second half of 2023, Berkshire Hathaway has been aggressively building positions and buying into Anda Insurance. As of the end of the first quarter of this year, Berkshire Hathaway held a total of 25.92 million shares of Anda Insurance, with a market value of $6.719 billion, ranking among Berkshire Hathaway's ninth largest holdings in the US stock market.
As of the end of the first quarter, Berkshire Hathaway's top ten holdings were Apple, Bank of America, American Express, Coca Cola, Chevron, Western Petroleum, Kraft Heinz, Moody's, Anda Insurance, and Davita Healthcare.
At the 2024 annual shareholders' meeting, Buffett stated that he will continue to hold long-term investments in Apple, Coca Cola, and American Express, which have achieved great success in the past. Despite the recent decline in Apple's sales, it is highly likely that Apple will still be Berkshire Hathaway's largest holding company. At the same time, he also hinted that selling Apple was driven by a desire to avoid much higher tax rates in the future, rather than a judgment on its long-term prospects.
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