Berkshire Hathaway Inc Sells 3,966,178 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stock

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,966,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.58, for a total value of $156,981,325.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 854,214,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,809,803,102.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 19th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80.
• On Monday, September 9th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total value of $68,114,452.62.
• On Thursday, September 5th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,031,014 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.28, for a total value of $202,649,243.92.
• On Tuesday, September 3rd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,031,639 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.66, for a total value of $326,566,441.74.
• On Friday, August 30th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total value of $322,390,566.39.
• On Wednesday, August 28th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,081,075 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.95, for a total value of $282,888,946.25.
• On Monday, August 26th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total value of $437,573,568.96.
• On Friday, August 23rd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total value of $268,752,482.88.
• On Monday, August 19th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total value of $199,638,463.70.
• On Thursday, August 15th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,183,829 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.31, for a total value of $203,776,317.99.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $40.28 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.86. 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 $315.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Brio Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $227,000. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 17,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. Rollins Financial lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 441,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,879,000 after acquiring an additional 48,998 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on BAC. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

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.