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The latest Kingswell letter suggests the BRK Proxy is released tonight.
https://www.kingswell.io/p/the-berkshire-beat-61-w...

Kingswell letter also comments by Bloomstrand on BNSF,BHE,etc

ciao

Looking at the latest share counts, looks like repurchases have gone up in the period after Feb 12 even though the price is higher.
The average price per B from Feb 12 to March 6 is $406 as oppossed to $376 between Dec 31 to Feb 12.
However more shares have been bough at a price averaging to roughly where it is. I think it is fair to surmise that Bufferr's assessment of intrinsic value is at least 10% higher so at least around the $450 mark.

2.2 million shares traded at 408ish at the close. That might be brk. IF Buffett doesn't to be sitting on 175 billion, he has to pay up for something!

I just checked another 800,000 or so traded late , after hours, at 408 ish. It was triple witching, so who knows who the buyers might be ?

2.2 million shares traded at 408ish at the close. That might be brk. IF Buffett doesn't to be sitting on 175 billion, he has to pay up for something!

As a general rule, issuers will not be in the market purchasing their own shares (even under a "trading plan") during the final 10 minutes of the market being open. They don't want issuers "painting the tape" so to speak.

Like you mentioned, today was option expiration and also a Friday pay-period that corresponds with a bunch of automatic, mostly fractional, share purchases - primarily on the opening tick in many securities today. The large reported volumes on the opening tick today are distorted by fractional share purchases. Check almost any stock and you will see this morning's open is a big "automated" buy date.

that 2.2 million share trade was right after the close. Can the company buy after the close ?

I am confused>>>Where in proxy does it show additional buybacks in 2024? Average price estimated at above $400/B share???

I am confused>>>Where in proxy does it show additional buybacks in 2024? Average price estimated at above $400/B share???

In the proxy statement on page one Berkshire lists the share count as of the close of business on March 6, 2024. Industrious folks compare that share count to the total share counts at December 31st and Feb. 12th which have been previously disclosed in the 10-K. Then they estimate a price paid. The price paid is a guess. Warren could have purchased a large block of A-shares privately at a price never seen in the public markets during the period.

"As of the close of business on March 6, 2024, the record date for the Annual Meeting, the Corporation had outstanding and entitled to vote 563,678 shares of Class A Common Stock (hereinafter called “Class A Stock”) and 1,310,995,008 shares of Class B Common Stock"

https://www.sec.gov/ixviewer/ix.html?doc=/Archives...

Thank you

So he paid just north of $400/B share on average is my guesstimate. So he must think it is worth......per B share?

Seems $440+. He said 90% would be his low end range. Strange with the negativity in the annual letter.

I don't recall Buffett saying 90%. Do you have a link? Thanks.

The letter was a warning shot to the regulators of utility sector that his check book is closing if they keep it up. Not to shareholders


BNSF. Telling management to get operating ratio down. Not to shareholders.


Also admitted too much capital. He is going to be Harry Singleton in his final years.

Didn't Henry Singleton only repurchases Teledyne shares when they were quite substantially undervalued?

Something about buying a dollar for 90 cents or less would be acceptable on buybacks. I’ll try to find the quote but I think he’s said it more than once. He does evolve so maybe he changed his mind again.

This from Kingswell comments on the BRK Proxy,

5) And, now, ranked by the current financial value of their Berkshire holdings:

Warren Buffett: $133.9 billion
Susan Buffett: $2.04 billion
Howard Buffett: $408.9 million
Ajit Jain: $277.2 million
Greg Abel: $141.9 million
Wallace Weitz: $107.6 million
Ronald Olson: $85.2 million
Tom Murphy Jr.: $60.2 million
Charlotte Guyman: $36.2 million
Christopher Davis: $23.3 million
Stephen Burke: $17.3 million
Meryl Witmer: $7.6 million
Kenneth Chenault: $2.6 million
Susan Decker: $1.3 million
(Note: A significant portion of Howard and Susan Buffett’s holdings are in their respective charitable foundations. Wallace Weitz, too.)

Several on this bulletin board have more skin in the game than the last seven listed.


https://www.kingswell.io/p/15-thoughts-on-berkshir...

ciao

"Several on this bulletin board have more skin in the game than the last seven listed."

for sure

although I think Witmer may own a bit more based on a Rational Walk email I saw

So he paid just north of $400/B share on average is my guesstimate.

The purchases are rarely at prices much better than the market average in the period.
Feb 13 - Mar 6 inclusive (after the AR number date and up to and including the proxy number date) the average B share price was almost exactly $407.

(though I think most of the purchases in this stretch were A shares, most of us here on the board deal in B shares)

Jim

"The price paid is a guess."

A few years ago, for one of their buybacks, Apple sold some (I think ITM) puts. Then they waited for them to be exercised and assigned. I wonder if Berkshire does that kind of thing?

"The purchases are rarely at prices much better than the market average in the period. Feb 13 - Mar 6 inclusive (after the AR number date and up to and including the proxy number date) the average B share price was almost exactly $407."

Which gives approximately $610K/A-share, or 1.57x BV. The absolute lowest repurchase price that Buffett could have paid during that stretch was $590,340 (intraday on Feb 13), or 1.52x BV. If Buffett paid 1.57x BV and that price represented, say, a 7% discount to IV, then IV was 1.69x BV. If Buffett paid 1.57x BV and that price represented, a 10% discount to IV, then IV was 1.74x BV. If Buffett somehow managed to pay 1.52x BV (the lowest price possible) and that price represented only a 5% discount to IV, then the IV was 1.60x BV.

Based on repurchase prices, Buffett's estimate of IV is greater than 1.5x BV, and appears to be closer to 1.7X BV.

The absolute lowest repurchase price that Buffett could have paid during that stretch was $590,340 (intraday on Feb 13)

Just remember, old friend, that it appears that the repurchases were primarily A-shares and he does have a phone number for A-share holders to call and negotiate big blocks of stock. He may have paid up more than he otherwise would to grab a big block (he seems interested in leaving as few A-shares as possible out there for the post-Buffett period) or he may have paid a price the shares never traded at during the quarter. We'll see soon enough.

A company I own shares in, Nelnet (NNI, of Lincoln Nebraska), did this type of repurchase in Q4. They repurchased shares at a price that was never seen in the public markets during the quarter.

The latest purchases are at valuations and rates of purchase that are very out of character. It has me wondering if Sandy Gottesmann’s widow didn’t call the home office and sell directly to them as mentioned in the 2019 annual letter. The timing roughly aligns with her $1.0B donation announcement.

From the 2019 annual letter.
“Shareholders having at least 20 million in value of A or B shares and an inclination to sell shares to Berkshire
may wish to have their broker contact Berkshire's Mark Millard at 402-346-1400. We request that you phone Mark
between 8:00-8:30am or 3:00-3:30pm Central Time，calling only if you are ready to sell.”

It’s just very strange that the per day purchase rate would jump to over $100M per day, a rate we have not seen since brief stretch in March 2023.

Jeff

Good points, nola and bluehorseshoe.

A company I own shares in, Nelnet (NNI, of Lincoln Nebraska)…

So you own another Nebraska conglomerate. Care to share what you find attractive about Nelnet and how big your position is?

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