Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $611,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.6% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,129,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 6.0% during the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 24,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 1,379 shares in the last quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the first quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 521,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,762,000 after buying an additional 3,125 shares in the last quarter. Concord Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $6,075,000. Finally, CFO4Life Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 18.7% during the first quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 14,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 2,215 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 8.4 %

NYSE BAC opened at $45.39 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.96. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $27.34 and a 52 week high of $45.55. 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 stock has a market cap of $348.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.29%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on 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 owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,518,070. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.