Atom Investors LP Sells 179,432 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Atom Investors LP trimmed its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 54.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 147,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 179,432 shares during the quarter. Atom Investors LP’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 36.5% in the third quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,069,000 after acquiring an additional 7,211 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1,930.7% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 92,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,683,000 after purchasing an additional 88,252 shares during the period. Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,427,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at about $163,000. Finally, B&L Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the third quarter worth about $659,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total value of $68,114,452.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 861,175,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,076,699,933.67. This represents a 0.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 70,007,916 shares of company stock valued at $2,829,836,123 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $47.51 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $364.54 billion, a PE ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.02. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.82.

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.