Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 86,840 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC trimmed its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 437,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 86,840 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $17,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 839.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 525.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $46.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $353.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $29.32 and a 52-week high of $47.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average is $41.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.55.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.