Berkshire Hathaway Inc Sells 4,985,553 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stock

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,985,553 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $197,477,754.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 797,683,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,596,235,790.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, October 2nd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total transaction of $67,867,406.20.
• On Friday, September 27th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,915,126 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.52, for a total value of $154,725,779.52.
• On Wednesday, September 25th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total value of $90,533,647.05.
• On Monday, September 23rd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,941,403 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $197,359,635.82.
• On Thursday, September 19th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80.
• On Tuesday, September 17th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,966,178 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.58, for a total value of $156,981,325.24.
• On Monday, September 9th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total transaction of $68,114,452.62.
• On Thursday, September 5th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,031,014 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.28, for a total transaction of $202,649,243.92.
• On Tuesday, September 3rd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,031,639 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.66, for a total transaction of $326,566,441.74.
• On Friday, August 30th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total transaction of $322,390,566.39.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.23. The company had a trading volume of 23,288,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,150,520. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.09. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $44.44. The company has a market cap of $306.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 839.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.27.

Bank of America Company 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.