Mizuho Securities USA LLC Trims Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 437,755 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 86,840 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $17,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $370,948,000 after purchasing an additional 8,447,091 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1,432.1% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $244,627,000 after buying an additional 5,749,567 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 3,550.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,804,560,000 after purchasing an additional 4,423,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the second quarter valued at about $127,252,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total transaction of $437,573,568.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 910,731,659 shares in the company, valued at $36,310,871,244.33. This trade represents a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.1 %

BAC stock traded up $0.48 during trading on Thursday, hitting $46.55. The company had a trading volume of 33,926,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,631,176. The firm has a market capitalization of $357.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $29.32 and a 52-week high of $47.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to an "accumulate" rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.26.

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.