Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,524,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 73,210 shares during the quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned 0.06% of Bank of America worth $179,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 49,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after buying an additional 14,674 shares during the last quarter. Cinctive Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,579,000. Coastwise Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,629,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC grew its position 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 valued at $5,178,000 after acquiring an additional 18,932 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during the third quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $828,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BAC. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 861,175,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,076,699,933.67. This trade represents a 0.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 61,976,277 shares of company stock valued at $2,503,269,682 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $47.02 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $43.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $360.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.33 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm 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%. The company’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 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

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.