Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Has $979,000 Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 741 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $979,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Summit Global Investments raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its position in Bank of America by 125.8% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 33,983 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 27.1% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,734,000 after buying an additional 20,916 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 37.7% in the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 54,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after purchasing an additional 14,901 shares during the period. Finally, Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at about $9,670,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $46.75 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.35. 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 company has a market cap of $358.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $29.22 and a 12-month high of $46.84.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total transaction of $68,114,452.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 861,175,131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,076,699,933.67. This represents a 0.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 107,883,988 shares of company stock worth $4,344,741,752 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.