First Citizens Financial Corp Acquires 925 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Citizens Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $727,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after acquiring an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1,432.1% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,627,000 after purchasing an additional 5,749,567 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 193.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 3,550.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,804,560,000 after purchasing an additional 4,423,215 shares during the period. Finally, D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new position in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $174,858,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 16,772,932 shares of company stock worth $693,852,472 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.4 %

BAC traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.45. The stock had a trading volume of 8,327,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,665,453. The stock has a market capitalization of $341.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $31.27 and a 52 week high of $48.08. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.94.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted 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 note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.82.

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.