Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Bought by Optas LLC

Optas LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 15.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,880 shares during the period. Optas LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.9% in the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 95,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,809,000 after buying an additional 2,712 shares during the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 85.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 13,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 6,422 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 21,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,187 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 26.0% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,531,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,771,000 after purchasing an additional 316,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 3.5% in the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 25,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 874 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Cfra reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.69.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $41.76 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.82. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $26.59 and a fifty-two week high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $320.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.32. 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) last issued its quarterly 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 during 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%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was 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 $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,078,718 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,920,425. Corporate 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.