Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Acquired by Davis R M Inc.

Davis R M Inc. increased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 502,726 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,999 shares during the quarter. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $19,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 4.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 59,853 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% in 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 buying an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total transaction of $322,390,566.39. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 882,723,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,847,417,700.83. This represents a 0.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 85,119,690 shares of company stock worth $3,438,777,236. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $47.00 on Monday. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $29.32 and a 1 year high of $47.22. The firm has a market cap of $360.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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. Oppenheimer increased their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

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.