Beta Wealth Group Inc. Increases Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Beta Wealth Group Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 44.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,105 shares during the quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 27.1% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,734,000 after buying an additional 20,916 shares during the last quarter. Councilmark Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth $771,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 37.7% during the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 54,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,163,000 after acquiring an additional 14,901 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in Bank of America by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 196,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,628,000 after purchasing an additional 20,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter worth $9,670,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE BAC opened at $45.15 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $27.34 and a 12 month high of $45.55. The company has a market capitalization of $346.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.04.

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. 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 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total transaction of $199,638,463.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 928,460,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,813,476,231.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total value of $199,638,463.70. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 928,460,939 shares in the company, valued at $36,813,476,231.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,067,817 shares of company stock worth $4,548,518,070 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on BAC. Cfra reaffirmed 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 raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.69.

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.