Range Financial Group LLC Acquires New Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 8,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $385,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after buying an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 125.8% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 33,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter worth approximately $550,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $46.10 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.09. The stock has a market cap of $353.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $31.27 and a twelve month high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI upped 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Bank of America from $57.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.50.

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.