German American Bancorp Inc. Acquires 22,515 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

German American Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 10.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 240,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,515 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises about 1.0% of German American Bancorp Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 43.0% in the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 11,873 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted 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 during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 27.1% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,734,000 after purchasing an additional 20,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 37.7% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 54,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after purchasing an additional 14,901 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $46.06 on Thursday. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $29.32 and a 12 month high of $47.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $353.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.55. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total transaction of $437,573,568.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 910,731,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,310,871,244.33. The trade was a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.