Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Major Shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc Sells 1,722,523 Shares

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total value of $67,867,406.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at $31,288,363,972.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

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

• On Monday, September 30th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,985,553 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $197,477,754.33.
• On Friday, September 27th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,915,126 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.52, for a total transaction 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 transaction of $90,533,647.05.
• On Monday, September 23rd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,941,403 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value 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 transaction of $465,811,996.80.
• On Tuesday, September 17th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,966,178 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were 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 shares were 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 value 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 value of $326,566,441.74.
• On Friday, August 30th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total value of $322,390,566.39.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $39.23. The company had a trading volume of 23,288,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,150,520. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.09. The firm has a market cap of $306.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH boosted its stake in Bank of America by 3.2% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 13,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,902,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 100,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,004,000 after purchasing an additional 9,604 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in Bank of America by 39.7% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 9,941,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $395,381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,827,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 35,120.0% in the 2nd quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 130,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,183,000 after buying an additional 129,944 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BAC. Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.27.

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.