Valley National Advisers Inc. Has $344,000 Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Valley National Advisers Inc. lessened its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 23.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,695 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 11.4% in the third quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 120,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,769,000 after purchasing an additional 12,317 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,319,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,637,000 after buying an additional 172,779 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Bank of America by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 130,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,172,000 after buying an additional 2,467 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp lifted its stake in Bank of America by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 12,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1,842.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 571,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,664,000 after acquiring an additional 541,760 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BAC. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company 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 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.8 %

BAC opened at $41.89 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.24 and a 200 day moving average of $39.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The company has a market cap of $325.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized 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 repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,993,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total value of $284,146,717.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 948,077,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,520,401,217.15. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,993,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total value of $284,146,717.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 948,077,805 shares in the company, valued at $38,520,401,217.15. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 120,072,238 shares of company stock worth $4,833,067,143 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.