Legacy Private Trust Co. Has $4.92 Million Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Legacy Private Trust Co. increased its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 124,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,613 shares during the quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.6% during 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 buying an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after buying an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,654,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,267,820,000 after buying an additional 5,488,790 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. StockNews.com downgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Cfra reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.27.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 156,918,857 shares of company stock valued at $6,421,694,213 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $40.05. 2,684,349 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,797,352. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $39.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.16. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $313.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.