Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $2.01 Million Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 50,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,011,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Bank of America by 525.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $45.77 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $351.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.33. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $30.45 and a 12-month high of $48.08. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. This trade represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 55,223,897 shares of company stock valued at $2,232,505,985. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on BAC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.