World Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 54,302 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 86.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 116,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,302 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co lifted its position in Bank of America by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 16,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $658,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the period. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $488,000. Tudor Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $645,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $619,000 after buying an additional 645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortem Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 2.3% during the third quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 16,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $666,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup upgraded 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted 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 note on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.92.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $46.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $353.57 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.33. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.43. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $30.63 and a 1 year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced 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 revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

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 issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,966,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,223,897 shares of company stock valued at $2,232,505,985. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.