STAR Financial Bank Has $337,000 Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

STAR Financial Bank cut its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,208 shares during the quarter. STAR Financial Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $337,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. McAdam LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% in the second quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $805,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in Bank of America by 15.1% in the second quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SNS Financial Group LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 3.3% during the second quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $46.06 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.55. 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 has a market capitalization of $353.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $29.32 and a 52-week high of $47.02.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted 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 business 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 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total value of $68,114,452.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 861,175,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,076,699,933.67. This trade represents a 0.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company 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 boosted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

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.