Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Has $588,000 Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,837 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,003 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position 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 worth $646,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total value of $68,114,452.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 861,175,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,076,699,933.67. This trade represents a 0.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 77,946,615 shares of company stock valued at $3,152,226,690. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased 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 note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $47.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $366.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $42.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.82. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $29.32 and a 52 week high of $47.84.

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 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

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.