Trust Co of the South Has $519,000 Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Trust Co of the South raised its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments grew its position in Bank of America by 237.6% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its holdings in Bank of America by 125.8% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after acquiring an additional 33,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at $550,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,076,169 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.05, for a total value of $163,250,568.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 784,549,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,421,224,816.65. This represents a 0.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 21,965,139 shares of company stock valued at $901,748,440 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $44.13. The company had a trading volume of 14,961,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,858,672. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $45.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.92. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $31.27 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The company has a market capitalization of $338.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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.