Warren Buffett Sold Over $143 Billion Worth of Stocks in 2024, but His Most Recent $3 Billion in Purchases Sends a Clear Message to Investors

Warren Buffett made one thing clear in his 2024 letter to shareholders this year: He prefers to keep the great majority of Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) money invested in equities.

That might seem at odds with the changes he made in his company's portfolio last year. Specifically, Buffett sold $143 billion worth of publicly traded equities, including large portions of its stakes in Apple and Bank of America. Meanwhile, Buffett added just $9.3 billion in new purchases during the year. Buffett even stopped repurchasing shares of his own company's stock in the back half of the year. Combined with strong operating results from its core businesses, Berkshire's pile of cash and Treasury bills soared to $334 billion by the end of December.

But there's a clear reason Buffett's preferences to keep money invested in equities and his actions in 2024 don't quite align. And the $3 billion he invested in the fourth quarter across five stocks is a clear indication of his current preference in the stock market.

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