Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. Has $4.74 Million Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 107,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,144 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up 2.9% of Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 43.0% in the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 125.8% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after acquiring an additional 33,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at approximately $550,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,002,225 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total transaction of $160,649,311.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 776,614,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,173,306,471.54. This trade represents a 0.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.07.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $45.39. The company had a trading volume of 30,023,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,856,730. The stock has a market cap of $348.27 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $31.27 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.01. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last issued 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 return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was 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.