Bank of America Stock Is Slumping. One Director Bought Up Shares.

On Nov. 1, director Thomas D. Woods paid $656,250 for 25,000 Bank of America shares, an average price of $26.25 each. According to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Woods now owns 64,661 shares of the bank in a personal account, and another 50,000 shares in an investment vehicle.

Woods didn’t comment on his stock purchase. A former vice chairman of
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
(CM), Woods last bought Bank of America stock on the open market in April 2017, when he paid $595,250 for 25,000 shares, an average price of $23.81 each.

Woods has been a Bank of America director since April 2016 and serves on two of the bank’s committees: audit as well as corporate governance, environmental, social, and governance and sustainability.

Woods is the first Bank of America insider to purchase stock since the bank’s largest investor,
Berkshire Hathaway’s
(BRK.A) most recent buy, in August 2020. With ownership of more than a billion shares, Berkshire Hathaway owns a stake of about 13%.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.