Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Berkshire Hathaway Inc

Berkshire Hathaway Inc reduced its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 797,683,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 235,168,699 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises 11.9% of Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Berkshire Hathaway Inc owned approximately 0.10% of Bank of America worth $31,652,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,164,000 after buying an additional 1,731,003 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after buying an additional 601,211 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during 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 buying an additional 59,853 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,109,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,031,014 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.28, for a total value of $202,649,243.92. Following the sale, the insider now owns 863,977,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,801,017,687.72. The trade was a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 70,007,916 shares of company stock worth $2,829,836,123. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $47.51 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $364.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.02. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $48.08. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 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.