Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Purchased by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV raised its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 74.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,198,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,793,833 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $166,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $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 $29,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BAC. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.69.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $45.88 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.18. The stock has a market cap of $352.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $28.47 and a 52 week high of $46.52.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 812,041,811 shares in the company, valued at $31,888,881,917.97. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 107,883,988 shares of company stock worth $4,344,741,752 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.