German American Bancorp Inc. Increases Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

German American Bancorp Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 10.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 240,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,515 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises 1.0% of German American Bancorp Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. German American Bancorp Inc.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,524,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Bank of America by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America by 3.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 15.2% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 13,502,778 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $535,790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783,631 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC traded up $0.40 on Thursday, reaching $46.46. 44,805,293 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,628,945. The stock has a market cap of $356.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. 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 twelve month low of $29.32 and a twelve month high of $47.05. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $41.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.55.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued 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 2.24%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to an "accumulate" rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research 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, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.26.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total value of $268,752,482.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 921,706,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,674,708,279.93. This trade represents a 0.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.