Essex Savings Bank Trims Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Essex Savings Bank trimmed its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 16.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,021 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $401,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Global Investments grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 27.1% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,734,000 after purchasing an additional 20,916 shares in the last quarter. Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter valued at approximately $771,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 37.7% during the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 54,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,163,000 after acquiring an additional 14,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,670,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,518,070. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.8 %

BAC stock opened at $45.13 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $27.34 and a 1-year high of $45.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.04. The firm has a market cap of $346.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on BAC. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.69.

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.