Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $1.05 Million Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 26,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,047,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 12,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. TKG Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at about $1,136,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 896,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,585,000 after buying an additional 31,807 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,946,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,904,000 after acquiring an additional 46,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 13,502,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $535,790,000 after acquiring an additional 1,783,631 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.4 %

Bank of America stock opened at $41.89 on Wednesday. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $27.34 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The company has a market capitalization of $321.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total transaction of $199,638,463.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 928,460,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,813,476,231.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,067,817 shares of company stock worth $4,548,518,070 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.97.

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.