Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Bought by GLOBALT Investments LLC GA

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 238,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,751 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. McAdam LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $455,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $805,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, SNS Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upped their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $46.75 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $41.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.37. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $29.22 and a 12-month high of $46.84. The firm has a market cap of $358.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.