Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 1,792 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 12.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,792 shares during the quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,530,241,000 after buying an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 21,465,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,983,000 after buying an additional 954,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,109,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $42.80 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $334.71 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.35. 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 Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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 2.43%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,230,389 shares of company stock worth $6,023,064,684 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on BAC shares. 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 research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.62.

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.