Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Covenant Asset Management LLC

Covenant Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 675 shares during the period. Covenant Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,129,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA raised its position in Bank of America by 10.7% in the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 368,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,815,000 after acquiring an additional 35,547 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 439.7% during the 1st quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth $237,000. Finally, QVR LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $500,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $46.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $357.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.59. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $29.32 and a one year high of $47.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 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%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,094,698 shares of company stock worth $3,876,350,805. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Company 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.