Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stake Lessened by Sonata Capital Group Inc.

Sonata Capital Group Inc. cut its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Sonata Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 839.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 1,489.3% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $45.33. The company had a trading volume of 9,486,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,585,207. The stock has a market capitalization of $347.81 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $27.34 and a twelve month high of $45.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.72 and its 200-day moving average is $39.96.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock worth $4,548,518,070. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised 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 report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.69.

Bank of America Company Profile

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.