By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Saturday said fourth-quarter profit swelled, boosted by gains in many of its businesses and common stock investments such as Apple Inc, and said annual earnings reached a record high. Berkshire also signaled renewed confidence in its own stock, repurchasing $6.9 billion in the quarter, and boosting total buybacks in 2021 to a record $27 billion. But the pace of buybacks has slowed, with Berkshire, whose share price is just 2% below its record high, repurchasing just $1.2 billion of stock in 2022. In his annual letter to…