Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Acquired by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 695,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 133,475 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $27,606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BAC. RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.2% during the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group increased its holdings in Bank of America by 28.1% in the first quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 9,287 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% in the first quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 9,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% in the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 21,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 2,039 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,349,021 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.41, for a total value of $269,261,980.61. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 992,612,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,096,677,379.78. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 144,633,120 shares of company stock worth $5,862,871,640. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on BAC. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.69.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:BAC traded down $0.28 on Friday, hitting $42.32. The stock had a trading volume of 30,593,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,864,773. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $330.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.43. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

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.