What Berkshire's Sale Means for Wells Fargo

We were not overly surprised to see wide-moat-rated

In the end, Berkshire decided the commitments the Fed was asking for were more restrictive than it hoped for, so the insurer sold 7.1 million shares this week and expects to sell another 1.9 million shares of Wells Fargo before the end of June, leaving its ownership stake below the 10% threshold.

Berkshire did note that these sales were not being made because of investment or valuation considerations, which was an important distinction for Wells Fargo, which has seen its fair share of negative headlines the past year. Our $66 per share fair value estimate for the bank is more than 20% higher than the April 12 trading price, though, so Berkshire is clearly leaving some money on the table. That said, the 9 million shares the firm is selling reflects less than 2% of Berkshire's 479.7 million share stake in Wells Fargo, which remains the insurer's second-largest holding behind narrow-moat

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