29,332 Shares in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Purchased by Meridian Wealth Management LLC

Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 29,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,164,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 23.6% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in Bank of America by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 13,502,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $535,790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783,631 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $47.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $360.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.67. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $29.32 and a 1-year high of $47.22.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 96,094,698 shares of company stock worth $3,876,350,805. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

About Bank of America

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.