Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stock Position Lifted by Raymond James Trust N.A.

Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 234,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,517 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA grew its position in Bank of America by 10.7% in the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 368,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,815,000 after acquiring an additional 35,547 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 439.7% during the 1st quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at $237,000. Finally, QVR LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at $500,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of BAC opened at $46.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $357.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.59. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $29.32 and a 52-week high of $47.05.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given 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 2.23%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. The trade was a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,094,698 shares of company stock valued at $3,876,350,805. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

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.