Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC Reduces Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 359 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after buying an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 125.8% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after buying an additional 33,983 shares during the period. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 173.7% during the third quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 583,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,150,000 after acquiring an additional 370,275 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $45.55. 5,106,266 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,101,781. The stock has a market capitalization of $349.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $31.27 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $44.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.43.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

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 given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,966,178 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.58, for a total transaction of $156,981,325.24. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 854,214,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,809,803,102.24. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,223,897 shares of company stock valued at $2,232,505,985. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays upped their target price 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. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.92.

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.