Avior Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 20.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 131,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,679 shares during the quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Summit Global Investments raised its position in Bank of America by 237.6% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 36,089 shares during the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 11,873 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its position in Bank of America by 125.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 33,983 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 27.1% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,734,000 after acquiring an additional 20,916 shares during the period. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 37.7% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 54,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after purchasing an additional 14,901 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total transaction of $437,573,568.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 910,731,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,310,871,244.33. The trade was a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC opened at $46.23 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.44. The firm has a market cap of $354.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.32 and a fifty-two week high of $47.02.

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 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared 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 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

About Bank of America

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.