Waverton Investment Management Ltd Takes $208,000 Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 5,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 2.1 %

Bank of America stock opened at $46.10 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $27.42 and a one year high of $46.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $353.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.90 and its 200 day moving average is $40.07.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 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 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 firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock 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 buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. This represents 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 other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. This represents 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. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. 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 report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.