Providence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 254,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,957 shares during the period. Bank of America accounts for approximately 2.0% of Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 525.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $47.76 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.87. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $29.32 and a 12-month high of $47.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $366.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 37.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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 on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,031,639 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.66, for a total transaction of $326,566,441.74. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 874,692,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,564,987,454.24. The trade was a 0.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 77,946,615 shares of company stock valued at $3,152,226,690 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.