Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Position Boosted by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,932 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Accent Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 125.8% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after buying an additional 33,983 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 173.7% during the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 583,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,150,000 after buying an additional 370,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Bank of America by 647.7% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,823,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,579,767 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $47.51 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.02. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $364.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 70,007,916 shares of company stock valued at $2,829,836,123 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Bank of America

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.