West Family Investments Inc. Boosts Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

West Family Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 29.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,806 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. McAdam LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $805,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SNS Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $45.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $29.32 and a 52-week high of $47.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $352.80 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total value of $268,752,482.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 921,706,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,674,708,279.93. The trade was a 0.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.