Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Down 0.3% – Here’s What Happened

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s stock price traded down 0.3% on Monday . The company traded as low as $46.49 and last traded at $46.62. 7,340,371 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 38,581,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.1 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $41.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.37. The company has a market cap of $358.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. 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 of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 910,731,659 shares in the company, valued at $36,310,871,244.33. This trade represents a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Fortem Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 16,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $666,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,011,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 10.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 113,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,563,000 after purchasing an additional 11,075 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after buying an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 7.6% in the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.