Billionaire Louis Bacon Is Loading Up On Finance Stocks

AerCap Holdings N.V.(NYSE:AER) represented the second-largest financial sector holding of Moore Global Investments as of June 30. The fund increased its stake in the company by 50% to slightly over 1.4 million shares worth $64.21 million. AerCap Holdings N.V.(NYSE:AER) is the largest independent aircraft leasing company in the world, owning over 1,100 aircraft. Shares of the company have more than doubled since late 2013 and are up by almost 20% in 2015. In May of this year, it reached an agreement with United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL), whereby AerCap Holdings N.V.(NYSE:AER) will lease up to 25 used A319 aircraft to United Airlines from its existing fleet between 2016 to 2021. Analysts at Macquarie reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating on AerCap on August 12 and also upped their price target to $64 from $61, which represents a potential 37% upside from the stock’s current market price. Barry Rosenstein‘s JANA Partners boosted its stake in AerCap Holdings N.V.(NYSE:AER) by 10% to slightly over 10.5 million shares in the second quarter and was the largest shareholder of the company in our database at the end of June.

Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), which until the first quarter represented a very small holding of Moore Global Investments, became the fund’s third-largest holding from the financial sector by the end of the second quarter thanks to the almost 30-fold increase in its stake during the second quarter. The fund purchased almost 3.5 million shares to lift its total equity holding in the stock to 3.6 million shares, which were worth $61.27 million as of June 30. On September 22, the company’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on whether CEO Brian Moynihan will also keep his Chairman title. One week after this shareholders’ vote, the company will be resubmitting a capital plan to the Fed which will decide if it can continue with its proposed share buyback program and dividends. The bank surprised the Street by posting much better-than-expected second quarter earnings on August 15. EPS for the quarter came in at $0.45 on revenue of $22.30 billion, compared to the Street’s estimates of EPS of $0.36 on revenue of $21.32 billion. Boykin Curry‘s Eagle Capital Management initiated a stake in Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) during the second quarter by purchasing over 27.5 million shares of the company.

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