Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Has $1.81 Million Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,030 shares during the period. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.6% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 6.0% in the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 24,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379 shares in the last quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% in the first quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 521,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,762,000 after acquiring an additional 3,125 shares in the last quarter. Concord Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter valued at about $6,075,000. Finally, CFO4Life Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 18.7% in the first quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 14,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,215 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Up 8.4 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $45.39 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.96. The firm has a market cap of $348.27 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $27.34 and a 1 year high of $45.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released 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 business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

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

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,518,070. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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 note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.97.

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.