Drive Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Drive Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 689 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in Bank of America by 959.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after purchasing an additional 8,447,091 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter worth about $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Bank of America by 1,432.1% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,627,000 after buying an additional 5,749,567 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Bank of America by 290.7% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 7,114,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $269,763,000 after buying an additional 5,293,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 3,550.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,804,560,000 after buying an additional 4,423,215 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $46.75 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $41.49 and a 200 day moving average of $40.37. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $29.22 and a 52-week high of $46.84. 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 capitalization of $358.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS 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 reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. Barclays increased 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.