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Buffett repurchased US$1.2 billion from the estate of a long-time shareholder in 2012, but he’s detailed to shareholders how he prefers to find other uses for that money unless prices make sense. During his annual meeting in May, Buffett said he would prefer share buybacks to a special dividend.

Now, the worst month for U.S. stocks in seven years has made several of his favourite companies significantly cheaper. Shares of Apple Inc., Berkshire’s top holding, have dropped 8.1 per cent since the end of September, while Bank of America Corp. has slumped 5.3 per cent in that time period.

Fear in the market “creates prices that make me want to shovel out the money as fast as I can,” Buffett said in August in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s David Westin. “But we’ve been shovelling out money anyway.”

He was able to chip away slightly at his cash pile during the third quarter, whittling it to about US$104 billion from US$111 billion at the end of June.

Despite prices that have thwarted any major deals, Buffett has found stocks he likes. He purchased US$12.6 billion of equity securities on a net basis during the third quarter, the most in more than four years. A regulatory filing indicated Berkshire added billions to its stake in Bank of America in the third quarter, continuing a trend from the second quarter of adding to positions in financial stocks.

The market declines have also left Berkshire’s shares below the price where Buffett bought them back, leading some investors to think he could dwarf the third quarter’s total in the final three months of the year — despite his feelings on buybacks.

“It’s close to one of the last things he wants to be doing,” said Steven Check, president of Check Capital Management, which oversees US$1.5 billion including investments in Berkshire. “He’s avoided it pretty well for 50-plus years.”

Bloomberg.com