Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Increases Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 175.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 330,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 210,709 shares during the period. Bank of America accounts for about 0.5% of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $13,129,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. First City Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,444,000 after acquiring an additional 4,602 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 24.0% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 179,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,128,000 after purchasing an additional 34,718 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.5% in the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,935,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $314,871,000 after purchasing an additional 267,661 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.3% in the third quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 22,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tranquility Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 18,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $46.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $358.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99, a PEG ratio of 1.58 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. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $29.32 and a 1-year high of $47.02. The business has a 50-day moving average of $41.64 and a 200-day moving average of $40.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on BAC shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Bank of America 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.