Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 8.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,790,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 349,525 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for 0.6% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $150,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 36,089 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 125.8% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after buying an additional 33,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 173.7% in the third quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 583,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,150,000 after acquiring an additional 370,275 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 55,223,897 shares of company stock worth $2,232,505,985 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays raised their target price on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.92.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.2 %

BAC stock opened at $45.99 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $31.27 and a 12 month high of $48.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.27 and its 200 day moving average is $41.43. The company has a market capitalization of $352.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.33. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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.