Avior Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 20.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 131,312 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,679 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Bank of America by 1,432.1% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $244,627,000 after buying an additional 5,749,567 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 3,550.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,804,560,000 after buying an additional 4,423,215 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $127,252,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:BAC traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $46.41. The company had a trading volume of 28,517,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,648,605. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $29.32 and a twelve month high of $47.02. 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 firm has a market cap of $356.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $41.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a share buyback program 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 purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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 owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted 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. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to an "accumulate" rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.