Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Diversified LLC

Diversified LLC lowered its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 840 shares during the quarter. Diversified LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after purchasing an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.1 %

BAC opened at $47.54 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.69. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $29.32 and a twelve month high of $47.54. 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 firm has a market cap of $364.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their target price 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. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, 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 note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,081,075 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.95, for a total value of $282,888,946.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 896,719,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,823,936,074.95. This represents a 0.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,119,690 shares of company stock worth $3,438,777,236 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America 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.