Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC Sells 454,764 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 96.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 454,764 shares during the quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $645,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after acquiring an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 4.7% in the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 21,465,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $813,983,000 after acquiring an additional 954,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 23.6% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $41.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $320.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $26.59 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.54 and a 200 day moving average of $39.82. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.69.

Insider Activity

In other 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 stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents 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 worth $4,548,920,425 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.