National Pension Service Has $535.79 Million Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 15.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,502,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,783,631 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for 0.5% of National Pension Service’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.17% of Bank of America worth $535,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 5.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after acquiring an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 4.7% during the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 21,465,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $813,983,000 after acquiring an additional 954,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 23.6% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, 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 transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total transaction of $199,638,463.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 928,460,939 shares in the company, valued at $36,813,476,231.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,518,070 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $41.68 on Monday. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $27.34 and a 52-week high of $44.44. The stock has a market cap of $319.81 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.54 and a 200-day moving average of $39.85. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.69.

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.