Parnassus Investments LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Parnassus Investments LLC trimmed its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,387,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 785,317 shares during the period. Bank of America accounts for about 1.9% of Parnassus Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $888,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 59,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after purchasing an additional 15,241 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 53.4% in the 1st quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,655,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $214,448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,969,432 shares during the last quarter. Ossiam raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 257.6% in the 1st quarter. Ossiam now owns 553,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,971,000 after purchasing an additional 398,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $388,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Evercore ISI raised 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of 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. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.44. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $29.32 and a 1-year high of $47.02. The stock has a market cap of $358.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.