Keystone Financial Services Raises Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Keystone Financial Services increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 757 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Services’ holdings in Bank of America were worth $435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 34,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after buying an additional 4,841 shares during the last quarter. FDx Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the third quarter valued at about $416,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its position in Bank of America by 13.2% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 32,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,772 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 82.3% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 32,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 14,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,518,070 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $46.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $353.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $46.52. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.07.

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

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 2.26%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BAC shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. 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 lifted their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Cfra reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.69.

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.