Steele Capital Management Inc. Sells 250 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Steele Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Steele Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America by 3.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 13,502,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $535,790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783,631 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $46.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $353.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $29.32 and a 1-year high of $47.02. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.55.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a share 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 reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

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.