Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Purchased by Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,363,928,000 after acquiring an additional 2,935,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.4 %

BAC traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.77. 45,616,647 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,208,762. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $40.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.09. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The company has a market cap of $311.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the sale, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,768,513 shares of company stock worth $2,807,216,504. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BAC shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.07.

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.