Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Purchased by Trust Co of the South

Trust Co of the South raised its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the quarter. Trust Co of the South’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Accent Capital Management LLC raised 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 valued at $1,567,000 after buying an additional 11,873 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised 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 acquiring an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted 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 purchasing an additional 33,983 shares during the period. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Bank of America during the third quarter valued at $550,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $44.13. The company had a trading volume of 14,961,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,858,672. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.92. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $31.27 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The company has a market capitalization of $338.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,965,139 shares of company stock worth $901,748,440. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.92.

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.