Platform Technology Partners Sells 2,194 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Platform Technology Partners reduced its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,194 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners’ holdings in Bank of America were worth $782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after buying an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,183,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.31, for a total value of $203,776,317.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 937,246,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,843,142,343.43. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,067,817 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,518,070 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on 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 shares of 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. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.69.

Bank of America Stock Up 2.1 %

BAC opened at $46.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $353.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $27.42 and a 52 week high of $46.52.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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.