Pavion Blue Capital LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Pavion Blue Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 192,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,318 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises about 3.6% of Pavion Blue Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Pavion Blue Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $7,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after buying an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 21,465,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $813,983,000 after buying an additional 954,885 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,109,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.8 %

BAC stock opened at $41.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.58. The company has a market cap of $325.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 125,336,839 shares of company stock valued at $5,049,968,704. Corporate 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.