Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 741 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $979,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 24,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $965,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 10.9% during the third quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares in the last quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,192,000 after buying an additional 593 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 3.2% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 5,393,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $214,016,000 after acquiring an additional 165,088 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 249,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,909,000 after acquiring an additional 23,617 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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 owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 107,883,988 shares of company stock worth $4,344,741,752 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of BAC opened at $46.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $358.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.35. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $29.22 and a 1-year high of $46.84. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America 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.