Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Boosts Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 175.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 330,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 210,709 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises approximately 0.5% of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $13,129,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McAdam LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% in the second quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA raised its holdings in Bank of America by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America by 1.2% in the second quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $805,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 15.1% during the second quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, SNS Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.3% during the second quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,888,881,917.97. This represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BAC. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays raised their target price on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.1 %

BAC stock opened at $46.72 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $41.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.44. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $29.32 and a twelve month high of $47.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $358.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced 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. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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.