Commerce Bank Has $46.66 Million Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Commerce Bank reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,175,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 46,766 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $46,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 525.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on BAC shares. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. One research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.7 %

BAC stock opened at $46.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $356.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $29.32 and a 12 month high of $47.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.51.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized 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 often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

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 shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total transaction of $437,573,568.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 910,731,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,310,871,244.33. This represents a 1.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Bank of America

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.