Accredited Investors Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Accredited Investors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,211 shares during the quarter. Accredited Investors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the period. LJI Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the third quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,192,000 after purchasing an additional 593 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 5,393,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $214,016,000 after buying an additional 165,088 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 249,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,909,000 after buying an additional 23,617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 242,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,603,000 after buying an additional 4,794 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $46.75 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $29.22 and a 52 week high of $46.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $358.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.35.

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

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 812,041,811 shares in the company, valued at $31,888,881,917.97. This represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 107,883,988 shares of company stock valued at $4,344,741,752. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

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.