Payden & Rygel Grows Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Payden & Rygel grew its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 669.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 343,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 298,500 shares during the period. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $13,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in Bank of America by 525.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total transaction of $437,573,568.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 910,731,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,310,871,244.33. The trade was a 1.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $46.06 on Thursday. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.32 and a fifty-two week high of $47.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $353.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.55.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.