Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway significantly reduced its exposure to stocks in the second quarter, new filings show.
The company’s financial statements indicated that it sold a net share of $75.5 billion in the three months through June.
Buffett was seen selling nearly half of his stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:) during the second quarter, a move that helped boost Berkshire Hathaway’s cash reserves to $276.94 billion.
His company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported second-quarter operating income of $11.6 billion.
The recent sales include Berkshire Hathaway cutting its investment in Bank of America, which was previously the company’s second-largest holding after Apple Inc. Berkshire Hathaway cut its stake in the bank to 12.15%, which was worth more than $35 billion at market close on Friday.
The sales came after Bank of America shares had surged 75% from their lows in late October to the point where Berkshire began selling in July.
At Berkshire’s annual meeting in May, Buffett highlighted the difficulty of deploying the company’s money, emphasizing his preference for investments with lower risk and higher return potential.
Berkshire Hathaway’s quarterly filing also revealed that after cutting its Apple investment by 13% in the first quarter, the company proceeded to sell about 49% of its remaining Apple shares in the second quarter.
News that Buffett sold $75.5 billion worth of stock in the second quarter comes at a sensitive time for the U.S. stock market, which saw a massive sell-off on Friday after a weaker-than-expected jobs report.
Concerns are growing among investors as economic indicators point to a faster-than-expected slowdown in the U.S. economy. In the wake of the latest batch of economic data, traders are increasingly viewing bad news as bad news.
Now the FOMC is in a tough spot. Several major Wall Street banks, including Citi and JPMorgan, are calling on the Fed to deliver one basis point rate cut at its upcoming meetings in September and November.