Smead Capital Management Inc. Has $314.87 Million Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Smead Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,935,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 267,661 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises about 4.5% of Smead Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Smead Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $314,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Bank of America by 525.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $46.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $29.32 and a 1-year high of $47.02. The company has a market capitalization of $358.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.44.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 48.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.