KPP Advisory Services LLC Sells 688 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

KPP Advisory Services LLC lessened its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 688 shares during the quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,168,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% in the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after purchasing an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Bank of America during the first quarter worth $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 1,432.1% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,627,000 after acquiring an additional 5,749,567 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 290.7% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 7,114,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $269,763,000 after acquiring an additional 5,293,000 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 3,550.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,804,560,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423,215 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $46.75. The stock had a trading volume of 40,488,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,721,895. The firm has a market cap of $358.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.32. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.33. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $29.22 and a 1 year high of $46.84.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 107,883,988 shares of company stock worth $4,344,741,752. Company 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.