Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $629.58 Million Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,866,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,561,152 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $629,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in 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 worth $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $676,264,000 after purchasing an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Bank of America by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 13,502,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $535,790,000 after buying an additional 1,783,631 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $46.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.59. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $29.32 and a 12-month high of $47.05. The company has a market capitalization of $357.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company 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 payout ratio is 37.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,094,698 shares of company stock valued at $3,876,350,805 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.