Holocene Advisors LP Cuts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Holocene Advisors LP cut its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 83.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 366,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,908,497 shares during the quarter. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $14,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cinctive Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at about $13,579,000. Coastwise Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 4.1% in the third quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC now owns 41,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,629,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 17.0% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 130,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,178,000 after buying an additional 18,932 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1.1% in the third quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $828,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 3,007.7% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 108,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,291,000 after buying an additional 104,668 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,976,277 shares of company stock valued at $2,503,269,682. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $46.79 on Wednesday. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $30.33 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.12. The company has a market capitalization of $359.01 billion, a PE ratio of 17.01, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.33.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.57.

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.