Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Strategy Asset Managers LLC

Strategy Asset Managers LLC lessened its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 426 shares during the quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA raised its stake in Bank of America by 9.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 279,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,591,000 after purchasing an additional 23,451 shares during the period. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 72,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,736,000 after purchasing an additional 5,320 shares during the last quarter. Huber Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 38.5% in the 1st quarter. Huber Capital Management LLC now owns 251,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,553,000 after buying an additional 70,000 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $602,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Barclays increased their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE BAC opened at $46.06 on Thursday. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $29.32 and a 52 week high of $47.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $41.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $353.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets.