West Family Investments Inc. Acquires 4,806 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 29.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,806 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake 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 buying an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after purchasing an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total transaction of $268,752,482.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 921,706,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,674,708,279.93. This trade represents a 0.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value 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 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $45.98 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $29.32 and a 12-month high of $47.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.64 and its 200 day moving average is $40.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $352.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued 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 return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board 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. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America 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.