592,745 Shares in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Acquired by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 592,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $23,519,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Bank of America by 959.6% during 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 buying an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Bank of America during the first quarter valued at approximately $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position 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 valued at $244,627,000 after buying an additional 5,749,567 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 3,550.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth $127,252,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to an "accumulate" rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.26.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, 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 value of $90,533,647.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. This represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.41. 28,517,124 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,648,605. The stock's fifty day moving average is $41.64 and its 200 day moving average is $40.44. The stock has a market cap of $356.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $29.32 and a 12 month high of $47.02.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are 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.