Darsana Capital Partners LP Has $238.08 Million Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Darsana Capital Partners LP decreased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 500,000 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises approximately 5.9% of Darsana Capital Partners LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Darsana Capital Partners LP owned approximately 0.08% of Bank of America worth $238,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Bank of America during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 525.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,031,014 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.28, for a total value of $202,649,243.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 863,977,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,801,017,687.72. This represents a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 70,007,916 shares of company stock worth $2,829,836,123 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BAC. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $47.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $364.62 billion, a PE ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

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.