TAP Consulting LLC Invests $254,000 in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

TAP Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 6,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after buying an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,654,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,267,820,000 after buying an additional 5,488,790 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,002,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total value of $160,649,311.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 776,614,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,173,306,471.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,002,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total value of $160,649,311.50. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 160,921,082 shares of company stock valued at $6,582,343,525. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.27.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC traded up $2.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.97. 33,814,086 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,779,289. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The company has a market cap of $325.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.21.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. 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 previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

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.