Farmers Trust Co. Has $645,000 Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Farmers Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 8.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,275 shares during the quarter. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 406,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,671,000 after buying an additional 8,158 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $15,031,000. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 102.2% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,201,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,691,000 after purchasing an additional 607,146 shares during the period. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total value of $67,867,406.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at $31,288,363,972.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total transaction of $67,867,406.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at $31,288,363,972.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 147,650,481 shares of company stock worth $6,050,547,676 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $39.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $306.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $39.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.10.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.