Sheets Smith Wealth Management Sells 495 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 495 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1,489.3% in the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Cfra reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.69.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $45.13 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.06. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $27.34 and a 1 year high of $45.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $346.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 1.53 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 812,041,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total value of $90,533,647.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock worth $4,548,518,070 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.