Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 4,794 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 242,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,794 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. McAdam LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% during the second quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.2% in the second quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $805,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in Bank of America by 15.1% in the second quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SNS Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 3.3% in the second quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America 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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 107,883,988 shares of company stock valued at $4,344,741,752 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $45.68 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $29.22 and a 1 year high of $46.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $350.50 billion, a PE ratio of 16.69, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.22.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on BAC. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Company 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.