The 'Oracle of Omaha', Warren Buffett, sold $Bank of America (BAC.US)$ stocks, continuing the selling frenzy that began in mid-July. $Berkshire Hathaway-A (BRK.A.US)$ A regulatory filing showed that Buffett's company sold Bank of America stocks worth $0.229 billion in the three days leading up to Tuesday. The average price on Tuesday was $39.30 per share, one of the lowest prices since Buffett started reducing his holdings of Bank of America stocks.

The new round of sell-off has slowed down significantly compared to the previous eight rounds of sales. According to the usual three-day trading documents, Berkshire Hathaway cashed in an average of about 0.87 billion US dollars in each sale transaction.

Is cash king?

Since Warren Buffett began reducing his holdings of Bank of America stocks nearly two months ago, Berkshire Hathaway has cashed in nearly 7.2 billion US dollars in total. The group still holds slightly over 11% of Bank of America's shares, valued at approximately $33.7 billion based on the closing price of $39.28 per share on Tuesday.

It is understood that Warren Buffett acquired preferred stock and warrants of Bank of America for $5 billion in 2011, initiating his investment in the bank. Over the years, Buffett has been increasing his holdings in Bank of America and has praised the bank's leadership. So far, he has not publicly explained his recent decision to reduce his holdings.

Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, praised Warren Buffett's investment in the bank but expressed uncertainty about why the legendary investor has continued to reduce his holdings of Bank of America stocks recently. Speaking about Buffett at an investor conference, Moynihan said, "He has always been a great investor in our company and has stabilized our company. I don't know what he's doing because, frankly, we can't ask."

It is worth noting that as of June 30, 2024, Berkshire Hathaway's cash and cash equivalents reached a record high of $277 billion, most of which are short-term US Treasury bonds.

Recently, Warren Buffett has sold a significant amount of his holdings in Apple and Bank of America stocks, and has been stockpiling short-term US Treasury bonds. These series of actions have been interpreted by the market as the "Oracle of Omaha" seemingly betting on a downturn in the US economy.

"Under the current conditions, I don't mind increasing cash positions," Buffett commented at the annual shareholder meeting in May. "When I see what's happening in the stock market, what's happening in the world, I think cash is very attractive."

There is a wave of realizations spreading.

In addition, the once thriving field of artificial intelligence (AI) has also experienced a wave of realizations.

Known as the "AI superstar stock," $Palantir (PLTR.US)$ After announcing its official inclusion in the S&P 500 index on September 23, the stock price of the company has skyrocketed. One of the company's largest shareholders may cash out nearly 1 billion US dollars by selling stocks.

According to regulatory documents, Peter Thiel, the co-founder and chairman of Palantir, through his investment company Rivendell 7 LLC, adopted a "10b5-1 plan" on May 15. This plan allows Rivendell 7 to sell a maximum of 28,590,737 shares of stock by December 31, 2025, or earlier.

According to reports, Huang Renxun, the CEO of AI chip leader NVIDIA, sold 0.24 million shares of NVIDIA stock, cashing in 25 million US dollars from September 6 to 9. In addition, regulatory filings show that Huang Renxun sold nearly 5.3 million shares of NVIDIA stock in a series of transactions from June 13 to September 4, with each sale size of 0.12 million shares, totaling approximately 0.63 billion US dollars in cash.

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