New Millennium Group LLC Trims Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

New Millennium Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 17.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,875 shares during the quarter. New Millennium Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after purchasing an additional 59,853 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America by 3.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after buying an additional 569,385 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on BAC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $46.06 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $353.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.44. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $29.32 and a twelve month high of $47.02.

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 return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved 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 reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

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.