Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Acquired by Goelzer Investment Management Inc.

Goelzer Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 231,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,480 shares during the period. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased 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 period. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at $261,923,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on BAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 147,650,481 shares of company stock valued at $6,050,547,676 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of BAC traded up $0.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.11. 34,255,929 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,056,484. The stock has a market cap of $313.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $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 twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.