Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Trims Ameriprise Stake to 6 Percent

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has cut its stake in Ameriprise Financial Inc. to 6 percent from 9.8 percent, according to a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Buffett’s firm and its subsidiaries lowered their holdings in the Minneapolis-based asset manager to roughly 14.7 million shares as of Oct. 31, according to the filing.

In March, Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway, the portfolio of insurance and reinsurance companies, and its subsidiaries sold 6.4 million shares of Ameriprise stock back to the company, and said they would not take action to further reduce their ownership percentage “for the foreseeable future.”

A spokesman for Ameriprise Financial, which was spun off by American Express Co. in the third quarter of 2005, declined to comment Monday evening.

Buffett owned 30 million shares of Ameriprise Financial, according to an SEC filing from November 2005.

Shares of Ameriprise Financial rose 45 cents Monday to close at $51.65, while Berkshire Hathaway fell $650 to close at $106,350. American Express gained 11 cents to end at $58.97, all on the New York Stock Exchange.