Berkshire Hathaway Inc Sells 3,915,126 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stock

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,915,126 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.52, for a total value of $154,725,779.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 802,668,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,721,473,347.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, September 25th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05.
• On Monday, September 23rd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,941,403 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $197,359,635.82.
• On Thursday, September 19th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80.
• On Tuesday, September 17th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,966,178 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.58, for a total transaction of $156,981,325.24.
• On Monday, September 9th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total value of $68,114,452.62.
• On Thursday, September 5th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,031,014 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.28, for a total value of $202,649,243.92.
• On Tuesday, September 3rd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,031,639 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.66, for a total value of $326,566,441.74.
• On Friday, August 30th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total transaction of $322,390,566.39.
• On Wednesday, August 28th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,081,075 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.95, for a total transaction of $282,888,946.25.
• On Monday, August 26th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total transaction of $437,573,568.96.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $39.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $308.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.02.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brio Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $227,000. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 17,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $585,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Rollins Financial grew its holdings in Bank of America by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 441,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,879,000 after purchasing an additional 48,998 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 3,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,913,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,102,000 after buying an additional 442,864 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

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.