FILE PHOTO: Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, pauses while playing bridge as part of the company annual meeting weekend in Omaha, Nebraska U.S. May 6, 2018.
REUTERS: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc said on Thursday (Jul 30) it has bought another US$522 million of stock in Bank of America Corp , boosting its already large stake in the second-largest US bank by assets.
Berkshire bought about 21.2 million Bank of America shares from Jul 28 to 30, according to a regulatory filing.
Following those purchases, Berkshire owned a total of 1.02 billion shares in Bank of America which roughly represents an 11.8 per cent stake in the company.
Berkshire has spent more than US$1.7 billion on 71.5 million Bank of America shares since Jul 20, including the latest purchases, according to regulatory filings.
Berkshire began investing in Bank of America in 2011, a time many investors worried about the bank’s capital needs, when it acquired US$5 billion of preferred stock plus warrants to buy 700 million common shares.
By the end of March, Bank of America had become Berkshire’s second-largest common stock investment, trailing only Apple Inc. Berkshire also invests in several other banks.
The latest purchases help Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire reduce its cash pile, which totaled US$137.2 billion at the end of March.
