Cypress Capital Group Reduces Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Cypress Capital Group trimmed its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 28,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 365 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 acquiring an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 13,502,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $535,790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783,631 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other 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 owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total value of $437,573,568.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 910,731,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,310,871,244.33. The trade was a 1.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,094,698 shares of company stock worth $3,876,350,805 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.1 %

BAC stock opened at $46.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.59. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $29.32 and a 12 month high of $47.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $357.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

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.