Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Down 0.9% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) dropped 0.9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $44.78 and last traded at $45.00. 13,852,216 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 38,554,227 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.97.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.3 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.72 and a 200 day moving average of $39.96. The firm has a market cap of $343.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current fiscal 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 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 2.32%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock worth $4,548,518,070. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Bank of America by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after buying an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after buying an additional 3,109,197 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.