Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has dumped more than $3 billion worth of shares in Bank of America over the past weeks, taking profits after a big run-up in the second-largest US lender’s stock price.
The 93-year-old Buffett, dubbed ‘the Sage of Ohama’, disposed of 18.4 million of the bank’s shares for $767 million between July 25 and 29, according to a Monday night regulatory filing.
In all, his investment conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, has sold 71.2 million Bank of America shares for $3.05 billion since July 17, but still retains a 12.5% stake in the Charlotte, NC-based lender.
Berkshire Hathaway remains the bank’s largest shareholder with almost 962 million shares, worth just over $39.5 billion.
The Post has reached out to Berkshire Hathaway for comment.
A spokesperson for Bank of America declined to comment.
Bank of America’s stock price has risen 22% this year.
The stock trades at 1.2 times book value, after trading below book value for most of the last decade.
Buffett first decided to invest in Bank of America in 2011, initially pumping $5 billion into the bank to snap up preferred stock and the right to acquire 700 million shares.
His involvement came at a time when BoA was struggling with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
It helped to soothe investor concern and drove the share price higher, creating a paper profit of several million dollars.
Berkshire Hathaway eventually amassed a stake of over 10%, requiring approval from regulators.
In April last year, Buffett praised the Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and suggested that he had no plans to pull back.
“I invited myself in, many years earlier, and they made a very decent deal for us. And I like Brian Moynihan enormously, and I just don’t want to, I don’t want to sell it,” he said.
Berkshire has also been selling Apple, shedding about 115 million shares in the first quarter.
It may disclose more Apple sales when it releases second-quarter results, expected on Saturday.
Buffett said at Berkshire’s May 4 annual meeting that he expected the iPhone maker to remain Berkshire’s largest stock investment, but selling made sense because the 21% federal tax rate on gains would likely grow.
In its first quarterly report this year, Berkshire said 75% of its investments were spread across just five companies, including Bank of America.
The others included American Express ($34.5 billion), Apple ($135.4 billion), Coca-Cola ($24.5 billion) and Chevron ($19.4 billion), the report shows.
Berkshire also invests in several other banks, including Wells Fargo & Co and JPMorgan Chase.
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