Bank of America Shares Hit All-Time High as Berkshire's Remaining Stake Enjoys Hefty Paper Gains
Claire Weston
Bank of America rose about 2% Monday to $59.90, an all-time high. Berkshire Hathaway holds roughly 514 million shares worth about $32 billion — built on a rock-bottom cost basis — yet BAC still trails Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and Citi over the past year.
How big was Monday's move?
Bank of America closed at $59.90, up about 2%, hitting a record high.
The Invesco KBW Bank ETF — a fund tracking the largest U.S. bank stocks — rose 1.7% on the same day, also setting a new high.
This means → it is not just BAC; the entire large-bank sector is rallying.
Why is Berkshire's gain so outsized?
Berkshire holds roughly 514 million shares of BAC, a ~7% stake valued at about $32 billion — its fourth-largest equity position, after Apple, American Express, and Coca-Cola.
The key is cost. In 2011, Berkshire invested $5 billion in BAC preferred stock and received warrants — long-dated contracts to buy shares at a fixed low price — to purchase 700 million shares at ~$7 each.
In plain terms = stock bought at $7 is now worth nearly $60. Those warrant shares alone have risen more than eightfold.
Berkshire sold half — why is the position still so large?
Over the past two years, Berkshire cut its BAC holding from over 1 billion shares to about 500 million — nearly a 50% reduction.
Most of those sales went through in the low-$40s. This means → Berkshire sold in the 40s and missed the run to 60, leaving some potential upside on the table.
But the overall cost basis is so low that the remaining stake still carries enormous unrealized profit.
It hit a record — so why call it a laggard?
Over the past year, BAC is up about 22%. Compare that with Goldman Sachs ~45%, Morgan Stanley ~53%, and Citigroup ~61%.
This reflects BAC's status as a clear underperformer among the mega-banks, even at an all-time high.
A sector rotation is now underway — money is shifting from the high-flyers like Goldman and Morgan Stanley into laggards like BAC, improving its relative performance.
What did Berkshire miss on other bank stocks?
Berkshire fully exited JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs, mostly during 2020–2021.
All three surged afterward. The estimated foregone profit is close to $50 billion.
In plain terms = BAC is the last big bank bet Buffett kept. Whether it can keep closing the gap with peers is the key test for the next phase.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.