Advisor Resource Council Has $229,000 Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Advisor Resource Council trimmed its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 45.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,858 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baugh & Associates LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Baugh & Associates LLC now owns 150,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,662,000 after purchasing an additional 8,715 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 86,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,413,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at about $1,276,000. M&G PLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 71.9% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 586,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,471,000 after acquiring an additional 245,448 shares during the period. Finally, Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% in the third quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 6,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $44.77 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.96. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.34 and a fifty-two week high of $45.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $343.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.32. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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 paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,183,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.31, for a total value of $203,776,317.99. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 937,246,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,843,142,343.43. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,183,829 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.31, for a total transaction of $203,776,317.99. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 937,246,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,843,142,343.43. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,518,070. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Evercore ISI upped 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 note on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.97.

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.