While Wells Fargo shares had the biggest gains among Berkshire’s portfolio of common-stock holdings, they had a small impact for the conglomerate. If its investment in the bank was unchanged from September, Berkshire’s Wells Fargo stake would have been worth $32.4 million at the end of 2021. Apple shares’ total return of almost 35% last year, meanwhile, gave Berkshire’s stake a value of $157.5 billion.
Bank of America remained Berkshire’s second-largest common-equity investment as of September, and the stock returned almost 50% last year. Buffett has expressed his admiration for the bank’s CEO, Brian Moynihan, calling him “the most underestimated bank executive in the country.”
Generally, Buffett “likes financials, he likes banking, he understands it well,” Kass said. “And he switched his allegiance, in terms of an investment perspective, to Bank of America.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.