J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 14.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,390 shares during the period. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after purchasing an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1,432.1% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,627,000 after purchasing an additional 5,749,567 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 290.7% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 7,114,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $269,763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,293,000 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 3,550.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,804,560,000 after buying an additional 4,423,215 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $46.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $358.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.49 and a 200-day moving average of $40.37. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $29.22 and a one year high of $46.84.

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 return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total transaction of $268,752,482.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 921,706,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,674,708,279.93. The trade was a 0.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

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.