Bard Financial Services Inc. Lowers Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Bard Financial Services Inc. lessened its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 229,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,295 shares during the period. Bank of America accounts for approximately 1.1% of Bard Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 43.0% in the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 11,873 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments increased its stake in Bank of America by 237.6% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 36,089 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its stake in Bank of America by 125.8% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after acquiring an additional 33,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in Bank of America by 173.7% in the third quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 583,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,150,000 after acquiring an additional 370,275 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $45.99 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.33. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $30.45 and a one year high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $352.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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, 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 analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.82%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 55,223,897 shares of company stock valued at $2,232,505,985 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Morgan Stanley cut Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.92.

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.