Stevens Capital Management LP Increases Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 334.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,655 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $910,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 6.4% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 14,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter valued at $1,196,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth about $10,525,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 460,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,281,000 after purchasing an additional 114,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth about $580,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.57.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,966,178 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.58, for a total transaction of $156,981,325.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 854,214,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,809,803,102.24. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 56,945,263 shares of company stock valued at $2,300,620,438 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.0 %

Bank of America stock opened at $46.37 on Thursday. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $30.33 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.16. 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 capitalization of $355.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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.