Berkshire unloads another chunk of Bank of America as CEO Moynihan lauds Buffett as great shareholder

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway offloaded another chunk of Bank of America shares, bringing its total sales to more than $7 billion since mid-July and reducing its stake to 11%.

The Omaha-based conglomerate shed a total of 5.8 million BofA shares in separate sales on Friday, Monday and Tuesday for almost $228.7 million at an average selling price of $39.45 per share, according to a new regulatory filing.

The latest action extended Berkshire's selling streak to 12 consecutive sessions, matching the 12 consecutive sessions from July 17 to Aug. 1.

Berkshire has sold more than 174.7 million shares of the Charlotte-based bank for $7.2 billion, with 858.2 million shares remaining, or 11.1% of shares outstanding. BofA has fallen to the No.3 spot on Berkshire's list of top holdings, trailing behind Apple and American Express. Before the selling spree, BofA had long been Berkshire's second biggest holding.

Buffett famously bought $5 billion worth of BofA's preferred stock and warrants in 2011 in the aftermath of the financial crisis. He converted those warrants in 2017, making Berkshire the largest shareholder in BofA. The "Oracle of Omaha" then added 300 million more shares to his bet around 2018 and 2019.

BofA CEO Brian Moynihan made a rare comment about Berkshire's sales Tuesday, saying he has no knowledge of Buffett's motivation for selling.

"I don't know what exactly he's doing, because frankly, we can't ask him. We wouldn't ask," he said during Barclays Global Financial Services Conference, according to a transcript on FactSet. "But on the other hand, the market's absorbing the stock .... we're buying a portion of the stock, and so life will go on."

Shares of BofA have dipped just about 1% since the start of July, and the