Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway offloads more stake in Bank of America by Investing.com

Investing.com — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: ) unloaded a new tranche of shares in Bank of America (NYSE: ), raising the amount the conglomerate has raised from stock sales since July to about 9 billions of dollars.

According to a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Berkshire sold about 21 million shares between Sept. 20 and Sept. 24, netting the company about $863 million. It sold about 45.6 million shares in several other rounds of sales earlier this month.

The latest share sale reduces Berkshire’s holdings in Bank of America to 10.5 percent, worth about $32.13 billion, according to Reuters calculations.

At this level, Berkshire, which remains Bank of America’s largest shareholder, will have to regularly report its interest. If his holdings fall below 10%, he will no longer be required to do so. Analysts cited by Reuters suggested that Berkshire may try to reduce its stake below the threshold to avoid regulatory scrutiny.

Buffett, 94, has not publicly explained why Berkshire reduced its stake in Bank of America, although he has praised the company in the past. The billionaire investor first purchased $5 billion in preferred stock and warrants from the lender in 2011. He converted that stake to common stock a few years later after Bank of America announced a dividend increase.

Asked recently about the Berkshire divestitures, Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said he was not in a position to speak with Buffett about the issue.

“I don’t know exactly what it does because, frankly, we can’t ask,” Moynihan said at a financial conference in New York. However, he described Buffett as a “great” investor for the bank.

Shares of Bank of America were just above the flat line in pre-market trading in the US on Wednesday.

(Reuters contributed reporting.)