Brophy Wealth Management LLC Takes $434,000 Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Brophy Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after buying an additional 11,873 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 237.6% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 125.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 33,983 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 173.7% during the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 583,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,150,000 after purchasing an additional 370,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 647.7% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,823,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,579,767 shares in 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 8,694,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 55,223,897 shares of company stock worth $2,232,505,985 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $45.77 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $30.45 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The firm has a market cap of $351.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given 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 2.27%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley cut Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.92.

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.