Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC Sells 1,831 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,831 shares during the period. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.3% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 71,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,729,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 10.7% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 154,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,873,000 after purchasing an additional 14,951 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth $217,000. Powers Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 30.3% in the first quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 2,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust Co. VA bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter valued at about $1,322,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on BAC. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.69.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total value of $199,638,463.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 928,460,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,813,476,231.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,078,718 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,920,425 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $42.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $330.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $25.28 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.71.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.