Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Bought by Cornerstone Advisors LLC

Cornerstone Advisors LLC raised its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 494,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,400 shares during the period. Bank of America accounts for approximately 0.8% of Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $19,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during 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. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted 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 valued at $646,693,000 after buying an additional 3,109,197 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $611,692,000 after buying an additional 569,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in Bank of America by 15.2% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 13,502,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $535,790,000 after acquiring an additional 1,783,631 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total transaction of $437,573,568.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 910,731,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,310,871,244.33. This represents a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $46.06 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.55. 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 firm has a market cap of $353.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $29.32 and a 1 year high of $47.02.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. 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 previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BAC shares. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

About Bank of America

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.