Warren Buffett's Berkshire gets more cautious on stocks and buybacks

Warren Buffett’s capital-deployment machine pulled back on several fronts at the start of the year as the billionaire took a more cautious stance on stocks.
 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s net stock sales in the first quarter were the second-highest in almost five years and the conglomerate, where the billionaire is chief executive officer, slowed its buyback pace, according to a regulatory filing Saturday. That helped push Berkshire’s cash pile up 5.2% from three months earlier to a near-record $145.4 billion at the end of March.

Buffett has struggled in recent years to keep up with Berkshire’s ever-gushing cash flow. That’s led him