Bank of America Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:BAC)

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors bought 196,083 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 28% compared to the typical volume of 153,009 call options.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $47.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $360.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $29.32 and a 1 year high of $47.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.65.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 910,731,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,310,871,244.33. This represents a 1.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 96,094,698 shares of company stock worth $3,876,350,805. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter worth $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 525.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.