Someone pulled the trigger on $125.4 million worth of an ASX stock partially owned by Warren Buffett today.
A small part of Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) is held by Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company chaired by the legendary Buffett. However, today it was less about the Oracle of Omaha and more about the general insurance group.
After all, it's not every day a company sees a nine-figure value change hands. Not unless we're talking about the biggest of the big. For example, Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) only traded $64 million worth of shares today.
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Finding a new home
The question on everyone's lips: who?
There is a buyer and a seller in every transaction. This prompts the more detailed question: Who decided to sell $125 million worth of IAG shares today, and who was the buyer on the other end?
Unfortunately, the details are sparse for now. The only name floating around currently is Barrenjoey, which was technically neither the buyer nor the seller. Instead, the Sydney-based financial services firm handled the trade on behalf of an 'institutional client'.
An institutional investor is any entity that invests money on behalf of others. Yes, that description doesn't exactly narrow the field of options. Anyone of Insurance Australia Group's top 25 shareholders, including Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, could fit the bill.
The transaction reportedly took place at a price of $7.45 apiece. Meanwhile, the Warren Buffett-owned ASX stock finished the day at $7.51 per share.
How much does Warren Buffett own of this ASX stock?
There's a non-zero chance that Buffett's Berkshire was involved in today's transaction. For now, it's a bit of a game of Schrödinger's cat.
On the last check, Berkshire Hathaway owned 4.12% of Insurance Australia Group — amounting to a $736 million position in the insurance powerhouse. However, there are 10 other institutional shareholders of IAG that also had more than $125 million worth of the company heading into today, including:
- State Street Global Advisors
- BlackRock
- The Vanguard Group
- Perpetual
- Norges Bank Investment Management
As with all matters of secrecy, they usually see the sunlight eventually. If it was Warren Buffett pulling the plug on a slice of this ASX stock, we will know soon enough.
