Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Berkshire Hathaway stock went up in pre-market trading on Monday, after the conglomerate announced over the weekend that it had bought a record amount of its own stake in the second quarter.
Berkshire, led by chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, said it bought $ 5.1 billion worth of stocks in May and June, divided between $ 4.6 billion in Class B equity and $ 486.6 million in Class A shares .
Shares of Berkshire’s Class B share gained 0.9% clockwise following the news of the record buying.
Second-quarter purchases were nearly double the $ 2.2 billion the conglomerate spent repurchasing equity in the last quarter of 2019 and greater than the full value of the stock repurchased by Buffett throughout 2019. .
The action could indicate that Buffett felt that Berkshire’s share was undervalued earlier in the year, with Class A and Class B shares up more than 19% in the first quarter and the S&P 500 lagging behind in the second quarter with declines of more and 1%.
Management has attributed much of that decline to the impact of the coronavirus, which has been awaiting U.S. manufacturing and industrial output since the spring.
Reflecting this broader trend, Berkshire’s corporate income fell 10% in the second quarter. The company also took a charge of about $ 10 billion from Precision Castparts, Berkshire’s largest company in its manufacturing segment.
sign up to CNBC PRO for exclusive insight and analysis, and programming for live workdays from around the world.
.
