Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) apparently is living up to at least some of its former buyback ambitions that the company telegraphed before. What is odd is that the company had its shares halted for “News Pending,” which might represent a huge acquisition or some other key development at a different company.
Investors may wonder why the halt was made when they hear about the size of the shares, until they see the dollar amount. The conglomerate, under Buffett, issued news stating that it has now purchased 9,200 of its Class A shares at $131,000 per share “from the estate of a long-time shareholder.” Buffett and friends did not state who that shareholder was.
Berkshire’s board of directors authorized this specific purchase coincident with raising the price limit for repurchases to 120% of book value. Berkshire also said that it may purchase additional shares in the market or through direct offerings at no more than 120% of book value.
This comes to a total of just over $1.2 billion, and Berkshire Hathaway has a market cap of about $216 billion. Shares closed on Tuesday at $130,831.00 against a range of $110,741 to $136,345 over the past 52-weeks.
For as halting trading for pending news, most companies would have larger news than this.
As always, here is the breakdown showing the most recent full portfolio holdings of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett.
JON C. OGG
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