Berkshire Hathaway ends 14-quarter run as a net seller of stocks

Berkshire Hathaway has stopped being a net seller of stocks for the first time in more than three years, according to reporting on its latest disclosures. The conglomerate purchased about $23.5 billion of equities in the period, ending a 14-quarter streak in which sales exceeded purchases. About $10 billion of the total was directed to one company, in a transaction described as struck at a privately negotiated price rather than through open-market buying. That structure would place the position outside the usual pattern of gradual accumulation Berkshire has used for large stakes in the past. Berkshire had been building cash for several years as Warren Buffett and his investment deputies trimmed long-held holdings and let Treasury bills accumulate. A shift to net buying at this scale marks a change in that posture, though the disclosures do not indicate whether it reflects a broader change in how the company views equity valuations.