Warren Buffett Sells Bank Stocks As U.S. Economy Slows

Warren Buffett sold bank stocks in this year’s first quarter as signs began to emerge that the U.S. economy is slowing down.

The famed investor’s holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), eliminated its entire position in Citigroup (C) during the first quarter and continued to reduce its holding in Bank of America (BAC).

In all, Berkshire was a net seller of stocks in Q1. The firm bought $3.2 billion U.S. of stocks and sold $4.7 billion U.S. worth.

According to Berkshire Hathaway’s latest 13-F regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Buffett’s holding company sold 14.6 million shares of Citigroup and cut its holding in Bank of America by 48.6 million shares.

Berkshire now owns 631 million shares of Bank of America stock worth $28 billion U.S. based on the current share price.

Buffett also trimmed Berkshire’s holding in Capital One Financial (COF) by 300,000 shares. The company owned 7.15 million shares of Capital One stock at the end of March.

Buffett has been selling down his stake in Bank of America since last year. At one point, the lender was Berkshire Hathaway’s second largest position after Apple (AAPL).

The Oracle of Omaha, as Buffett is known, might be paring his bank holdings as speculation grows that the U.S. is headed for an economic recession.

Banks and their stocks tend to perform poorly when the economy struggles.

Berkshire’s position in Apple, its biggest holding, was unchanged in the quarter at 300 million shares. Berkshire’s Apple stake is now worth $63 billion U.S.

Berkshire eliminated its entire investment in Nu Holdings (NU), which operates a Brazilian digital bank, selling all 40 million shares that it had owned.

While Berkshire Hathaway offloaded bank stocks, the company roughly doubled its stake in alcoholic beverage company Constellation Brands (STZ) to 12 million shares.

Berkshire also requested confidentiality with the SEC for one or more equity holdings that it omitted from its latest 13-F report.

This likely reflects a desire by Buffett to continue accumulating one or more holdings without alerting investors and driving up the share price.

Buffett has requested confidentiality when building an equity stake in the past. This occurred as recently as last year, when Berkshire secretly built a stake in Swiss insurer Chubb (CB).

Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B stock has risen 13% this year to $507.33 U.S. per share.