Fortem Financial Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Fortem Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $777,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 4.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after purchasing an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after buying an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,002,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were 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 owns 776,614,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,173,306,471.54. This represents a 0.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Phillip Securities raised 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.07.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC traded up $0.57 on Monday, reaching $45.38. 23,556,945 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,541,910. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.01. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $348.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.50, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $31.27 and a one year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America Company 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.