Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Bought by Woodstock Corp

Woodstock Corp raised its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 158,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the quarter. Woodstock Corp’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $6,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. American Trust purchased a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $244,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 914 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 51,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 10,341 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.27.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $41.95 on Monday. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $328.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,002,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total transaction of $160,649,311.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 776,614,511 shares in the company, valued at $31,173,306,471.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,002,225 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total transaction of $160,649,311.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 776,614,511 shares in the company, valued at $31,173,306,471.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 160,921,082 shares of company stock valued at $6,582,343,525. 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.