Blossom Wealth Management Increases Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Blossom Wealth Management boosted its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 17,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for about 1.4% of Blossom Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Blossom Wealth Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 402.2% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 839.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 1,489.3% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,264,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.20, for a total transaction of $216,901,561.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 961,646,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,619,844,658. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,264,601 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.20, for a total transaction of $216,901,561.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 961,646,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,619,844,658. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 132,863,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,363,830,468 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on BAC. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $42.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.51. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $330.72 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors 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 buy 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 Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 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.