Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Bought by West Branch Capital LLC

West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 9.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,807 shares during the quarter. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. McAdam LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% during the second quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the second quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $805,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 15.1% during the second quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.3% during the second quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 13,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BAC. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,420,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.39, for a total value of $229,779,191.61. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 980,061,561 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,544,809,570.79. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 144,633,120 shares of company stock worth $5,862,871,640 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE BAC traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $42.32. The company had a trading volume of 30,593,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,864,773. The company has a market capitalization of $330.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.43.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Bank of America

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.