Commerce Bank Reduces Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Commerce Bank cut its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 3.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,175,795 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 46,766 shares during the period. Commerce Bank's holdings in Bank of America were worth $46,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 3.6% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 82,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,131,000 after buying an additional 11,010 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Wealth Strategies LLC. bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth about $305,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 165,748 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,285,000 after buying an additional 22,595 shares during the period. Finally, Cadence Bank grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.9% in the first quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 92,994 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,526,000 after buying an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total value of $268,752,482.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 921,706,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,674,708,279.93. This represents a 0.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.08. 15,890,608 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,547,582. The firm has a market cap of $353.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $29.32 and a twelve month high of $47.02. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $41.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.51.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans 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.