AMG National Trust Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

AMG National Trust Bank reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 23.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,714 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 3.6% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 59,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after purchasing an additional 15,241 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 53.4% during the 1st quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,655,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $214,448,000 after buying an additional 1,969,432 shares in the last quarter. Ossiam lifted its position in Bank of America by 257.6% in the 1st quarter. Ossiam now owns 553,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,971,000 after buying an additional 398,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter worth approximately $388,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC stock opened at $46.72 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $29.32 and a 12-month high of $47.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $358.48 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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 issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total transaction of $437,573,568.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 910,731,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,310,871,244.33. The trade was a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their target price on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.26.

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.