Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Bought by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 173.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 583,412 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 370,275 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $23,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Bank of America Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded up $0.48 during trading on Thursday, reaching $46.55. 33,926,271 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,631,176. The firm has a market capitalization of $357.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $42.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.59. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $29.32 and a 12-month high of $47.05. 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 (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company 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 posted $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America's revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.23%. Bank of America's payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Phillip Securities upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.26.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

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.