Hara Capital LLC Sells 680 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hara Capital LLC lowered its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 680 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 3.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.97.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,183,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.31, for a total value of $203,776,317.99. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 937,246,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,843,142,343.43. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,183,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.31, for a total transaction of $203,776,317.99. Following the sale, the insider now owns 937,246,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,843,142,343.43. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock worth $4,548,518,070 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $45.17. The stock had a trading volume of 10,435,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,544,438. The firm has a market capitalization of $346.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.32. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $27.34 and a 12 month high of $45.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.96.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly 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. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm 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 of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

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