Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $5.11 Million Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 23,852 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after buying an additional 29,198,846 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447,091 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter worth about $261,923,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded up $0.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.11. 34,255,929 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,056,484. The company has a market cap of $313.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.12. 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 one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Bank of America from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 147,650,481 shares of company stock worth $6,050,547,676 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.