Drive Wealth Management LLC Sells 689 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Drive Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 689 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during 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 buying an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after acquiring an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Bank of America by 3.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $46.75 on Monday. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $29.22 and a 12 month high of $46.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $358.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.37.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of 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 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 position. 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 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.