Financial Counselors Inc. Purchases 24,552 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 41.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,013 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 24,552 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 37,393 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,484,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $455,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $805,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in Bank of America by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $47.51. 23,262,009 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,477,180. The stock has a market capitalization of $364.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.02 and a 200-day moving average of $40.98.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 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 prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company'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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America's payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,031,639 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.66, for a total value of $326,566,441.74. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 874,692,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,564,987,454.24. This trade represents a 0.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 70,007,916 shares of company stock worth $2,829,836,123 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.26.

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.