Appleton Partners Inc. MA Decreases Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 295,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,915 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $11,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $1,090,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 406,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,671,000 after acquiring an additional 8,158 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $15,031,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,189,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,353,216,000 after buying an additional 4,338,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,791 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $39.23 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $306.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.09. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 147,650,481 shares of company stock worth $6,050,547,676 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.27.

Bank of America Company 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.