Martingale Asset Management L P Increases Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1,465.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 149,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 139,870 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 525.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares in the company, valued at $31,888,881,917.97. The trade was a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 70,007,916 shares of company stock worth $2,829,836,123 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.5 %

BAC opened at $47.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $364.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $30.04 and a 12 month high of $48.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.98.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced 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 return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.