Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Acquired by Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC

Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during 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 during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in Bank of America by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% during 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% during 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of 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 raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total value of $437,573,568.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 910,731,659 shares in the company, valued at $36,310,871,244.33. The trade was a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $46.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.44. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.32 and a fifty-two week high of $47.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $358.48 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

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

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.