On October 8, the financial news agency reported that after months of selling off Bank of America stocks, the cash reserves of Berkshire Hathaway, led by the 'Oracle of Omaha' Warren Buffett, have become even more robust.

According to a recent filing with the SEC, Berkshire Hathaway continued to reduce its holdings of Bank of America stocks for three consecutive trading days on October 3, 4, and 7, 2024, totaling 9.571 million shares and realizing approximately $0.383 billion. Bank of America is currently the third largest holding of Berkshire Hathaway.

Since mid-July, this marks the 14th round of selling Bank of America shares disclosed by the company, with Buffett having cashed out over $10 billion in total, indicating a possible trend towards clearing out his positions.

Following the latest round of sales, Berkshire Hathaway still holds approximately 10.1% of Bank of America shares, valued at around $31.4 billion, maintaining its position as the largest shareholder but getting closer to the 'regulatory threshold' with just one step away.

According to regulations, if the ownership exceeds 10%, transactions need to be disclosed within 2 days; if ownership is below 10%, there is no immediate need to disclose the transactions, which may typically require waiting for several weeks and disclosing in quarterly reports. In reality, Buffett himself prefers to buy and sell stocks without rapid public disclosure.

Analysis suggests that excluding the impact of taxes, Buffett's total profit from selling Bank of America stocks since mid-July, combined with dividends received since 2011, has exceeded the $14.6 billion spent on purchasing Bank of America shares.

For many years, Buffett has been increasing his holdings in Bank of America's stocks and praising the bank's leadership, but so far, he has not publicly explained his recent decision to reduce his holdings.

During the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference held last month, Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, told the audience that he could not call Buffett directly to ask what he was up to, 'because frankly, we can't ask, and we won't ask.'

However, some analysts believe that the reasons include Bank of America's overvaluation and the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut after a four-and-a-half year hiatus. It is understood that Bank of America is very sensitive to changes in interest rate cycles, even more so than other industry peers.

As for whether Buffett's successive selling actions really mean he is going to liquidate Bank of America, it is still unknown. However, according to his habit, when he starts selling a stock, he eventually clears that stock. In recent years, Berkshire Hathaway has liquidated stocks of several banks, including U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo & Co., and Bank of New York Mellon.

Ash Shah, Investment Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Summit Global Investments, commented: 'All in all, Buffett seems to think that the best investments right now are cash and government bonds.'