First Business Financial Services Inc. Grows Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Business Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 59,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,084 shares during the period. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 187,026 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,998 shares during the period. Motco lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 159.4% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 8,865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 5,447 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth $14,420,000. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at $771,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BAC shares. Citigroup upgraded 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 research report on Friday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $45.91 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $29.20 and a 1 year high of $46.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $352.26 billion, a PE ratio of 16.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 107,883,988 shares of company stock worth $4,344,741,752. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.