(Business Insider) Bank of America's stock is down 32% this year, suggesting Buffett decided to add to one of his biggest holdings at a discount.
Warren Buffett bought more than $800 million worth of Bank of America stock this week, boosting his stake in the banking titan to north of 11%, SEC filings show.
The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO snapped up nearly 34 million shares at an average price of about $24 between Monday and Wednesday, meaning he spent about $813 million.
The purchases boosted Berkshire's stake in the banking titan by about 3.6% to nearly 982 million shares, or 11.3% of the company.
Bank of America was Berkshire's second-largest holding by dollar value at the end of March, after Apple.
Berkshire's increased stake is worth about $23.9 billion, based on Bank of America's stock price of $24.31 as of Wednesday's close.
The bank's shares have plunged 32% this year, meaning Berkshire's stake would have been worth around $35 billion at the start of January.
Buffett has been criticized in recent weeks for failing to deploy Berkshire's massive cash hoard, which ballooned to $137 billion in the first quarter of this year.
However, Berkshire struck a $10 billion deal to acquire most of Dominion Energy's natural-gas assets earlier this month, and appears to have bought back between $5 billion and $6 billion of its stock between late April and early July.
Buffett's increased bet on Bank of America signals he's actively hunting for bargains again, and willing to add to his existing holdings at the right price."
