Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway recently sold more shares of Bank of America (BAC). The sales, which took place over three days, amounted to over $766 million, according to the latest regulatory filings.
This takes the total sales this month to more than $3 billion, with Berkshire seemingly taking profits after a run higher in Bank of America’s share price.
The latest transactions took place on July 25, 26, and 29, with the prices per share ranging from $41.1957 to $42.0101, according to the filings.
Berkshire has sold 71.2 million shares of Bank of America for $3.05 billion since July 17, reducing its holdings in the lender by 6.9% to 961.5 million shares.
Despite the sale, Berkshire Hathaway remains one of the largest shareholders in Bank of America, with a 12.4% stake, which is worth over $39 billion.
Bank of America shares have risen by more than 23% so far this year, while in the last 12 months, the bank’s stock has climbed over 29%.
In a note to clients earlier this month, analysts at Phillip Securities downgraded Bank of America to Neutral, raising the price target to $45 per share.
“We account for recent share price performance and raise our FY24e estimates,” said the firm. “We raise FY24e earnings by 8% from higher NII due to fixed-rate asset repricing and higher fee income from wealth management and investment banking.”
“We expect BAC’s earnings to improve in 2H24 from: 1) higher NII from fixed-asset repricing and, 2) continued growth in investment banking and wealth management fees due to higher capital markets activity,” analysts added. “However, headwinds include lacklustre loan growth and higher provisioning from credit card and commercial real estate offices.”