Rakuten Securities Inc. Increases Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter valued at $30,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,183,829 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.31, for a total value of $203,776,317.99. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 937,246,053 shares in the company, valued at $36,843,142,343.43. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock worth $4,548,518,070. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.69.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $46.10 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a one year low of $27.42 and a one year high of $46.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $353.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.13.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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.