Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Buys 5,015,378 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 193.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $301,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Trust raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 38.5% during the 1st quarter. American Trust now owns 10,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 2,798 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 13.8% during the second quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,786,000 after purchasing an additional 8,514 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 82,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,276,000 after purchasing an additional 20,019 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 719,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,631,000 after purchasing an additional 10,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in Bank of America by 49.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 161,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,425,000 after buying an additional 53,279 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total transaction of $68,114,452.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 861,175,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,076,699,933.67. This trade represents a 0.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 70,007,916 shares of company stock valued at $2,829,836,123. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC opened at $47.52 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.98. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $30.04 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The stock has a market cap of $364.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 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 (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 2.19%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BAC. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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.