Groupama Asset Managment Sells 771,671 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Groupama Asset Managment reduced its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 995,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 771,671 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $39,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after buying an additional 1,731,003 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,499,000 after buying an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on BAC. 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 report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.92.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 55,223,897 shares of company stock valued at $2,232,505,985 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $45.93 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.33. The company has a market cap of $352.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $30.45 and a 12-month high of $48.08.

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 return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.