Warren Buffett bets another $522 million on Bank of America, boosting his stake to nearly 12%
- Warren Buffett spent $522 million on Bank of America stock in three days this week, SEC filings show.
- The billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway boss has now plowed about $1.7 billion into the bank in less than two weeks, boosting his stake to more than 1 billion shares or 11.8%.
- Buffett was panned for doing little during the coronavirus crash, but Berkshire has now made a $10 billion acquisition, likely spent more than $5 billion on stock buybacks, and significantly ramped up its stake in Bank of America in recent weeks.
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Warren Buffett shelled out $522 million on Bank of America stock in the past three days, lifting his total spending on the banking titan's shares in the past two weeks to about $1.7 billion.
The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO snapped up 21.2 million shares at an average price of about $24.65 between Tuesday and Thursday, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show. The purchases boosted his stake in the bank to around 1.02 billion shares or 11.8% — worth more than $25 billion as of Wednesday's close.
Buffett has now snapped up more than 71 million Bank of America shares in the past nine trading days, bolstering his position by 7.5%. He likely views them as a bargain, given the bank's stock price is down about 30% this year.
Bank of America was the second-largest holding in Berkshire's stock portfolio at last count, after its $90 billion-plus stake in Apple.
Buffett was fiercely criticized for failing to deploy Berkshire's huge cash hoard when markets tanked earlier this year.
Berkshire's recent $10 billion deal to acquire most of Dominion Energy's natural-gas assets, its apparent repurchase of more than $5 billion of its stock between late April and early July, and now its $1.7 billion splurge on Bank of America shares suggest Buffett was simply waiting for the right moment to act.