Summary
Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.B) 2018 quarterly report shows it bought back shares for the first time on a net basis since 2014.
The amount involved and percentage of the company is insignificant.
Wait to see if Buffett is consistent with the new buyback policy and buys back shares when the stock is down before buying this stock.
Berkshire’s announcement
The buyback was disclosed in a table within Note 19 Common Stock to BRK.B’s quarterly statement (see below):
Source: SEC filing 10Q report Berkshire Hathaway 11-5-18
The table shows that most of the buyback was for Class B shares in the “Treasury Shares” column. Since each Class A share can be converted into 1,500 Class B shares, Berkshire bought back 4,476,692 Equivalent Class B shares. The value at an average price during the quarter was about $900 million.
