Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Decreases Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. decreased its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 744 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Bank of America by 1.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 4.7% in the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 21,465,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,983,000 after purchasing an additional 954,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $42.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $330.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.47, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $25.28 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.37 and a 200 day moving average of $39.71.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,078,718 shares of company stock worth $4,548,920,425 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.69.

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.