Check Capital Management Inc. CA Decreases Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Check Capital Management Inc. CA lowered its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,796 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises 0.1% of Check Capital Management Inc. CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Check Capital Management Inc. CA’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Bank of America by 959.6% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,948,000 after buying an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1,432.1% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,627,000 after buying an additional 5,749,567 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 290.7% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 7,114,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $269,763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,293,000 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on BAC shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $45.90 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.22. The firm has a market cap of $352.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $29.20 and a 52 week high of $46.52.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share 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 business 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 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total value of $90,533,647.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,888,881,917.97. The trade was a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 107,883,988 shares of company stock valued at $4,344,741,752. 0.29% of the stock is currently 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.