Modus Advisors LLC Takes $178,000 Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $178,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after buying an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after purchasing an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after purchasing an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $44.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,690,655 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,818,671. The firm has a market capitalization of $340.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.27 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.92. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,002,225 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total transaction of $160,649,311.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 776,614,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,173,306,471.54. The trade was a 0.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 16,772,932 shares of company stock valued at $693,852,472 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.92.

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.