Wharton Business Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Wharton Business Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 419,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 66,131 shares during the quarter. Wharton Business Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $16,660,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in Bank of America by 237.6% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares during the period. Accent Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 125.8% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 33,983 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 27.1% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,734,000 after purchasing an additional 20,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 14,901 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total transaction of $268,752,482.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 921,706,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,674,708,279.93. This trade represents a 0.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $46.84 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $359.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $29.32 and a 12 month high of $46.84. 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 (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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for 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%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities 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 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.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.