Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for about 0.4% of Geode Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,546,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 4.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after purchasing an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after buying an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after buying an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $45.93 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $30.45 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.33. The firm has a market cap of $352.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Bank of America from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 55,223,897 shares of company stock worth $2,232,505,985 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.