Hantz Financial Services Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 273,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,343 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BAC. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.6% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 239.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 562,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,320,000 after purchasing an additional 396,437 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.7% in the first quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. Clear Rock Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.8% in the first quarter. Clear Rock Advisors LLC now owns 81,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425 shares during the period. Finally, American Trust boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 38.5% in the first quarter. American Trust now owns 10,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,798 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $47.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $366.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $29.32 and a 52-week high of $47.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total value of $68,114,452.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 861,175,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,076,699,933.67. The trade was a 0.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,007,916 shares of company stock valued at $2,829,836,123. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Company 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.