Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Sells 104,088 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc decreased its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 19.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 439,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 104,088 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $17,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in 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 valued at $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 59,853 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 23.6% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 812,041,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total value of $90,533,647.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 812,041,811 shares in the company, valued at $31,888,881,917.97. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,518,070. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $45.88 on Wednesday. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $27.42 and a 1 year high of $46.52. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $41.11 and its 200-day moving average is $40.18. The stock has a market cap of $352.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect 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 authorized a share repurchase 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 repurchase 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 stock is 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 given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Finally, Cfra reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.69.

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.