9,988 Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Purchased by Ellsworth Advisors LLC

Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 171.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,988 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,571,060,000. Amundi lifted its stake in Bank of America by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 42,385,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,066,274,000 after acquiring an additional 4,721,969 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,359,172,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,313,953,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,135,112 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,517,599,000 after acquiring an additional 561,413 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Net interest income increased 8% year over year to approximately $16.4 billion, while average loans rose 6% and deposits grew 2%. Management also targeted at least 8% net-interest-income growth in 2027, supported by loan and deposit expansion. BAC Q3 Earnings Call Highlights NII Growth and Trading Pressure
• Positive Sentiment: Consumer banking and wealth management remained areas of strength, with Merrill’s fee-based advisory assets reaching a record $1.9 trillion. Bank of America also returned $8.3 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Merrill Lynch’s Fee-Based Advisory Assets Just Hit a Record $1.9 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: Despite lower targets, several analysts retained favorable views. Baird upgraded BAC to “outperform,” while Citigroup, Truist and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods maintained buy or outperform ratings. The revised targets remain above the current share price.
• Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America said it has added roughly 1,000 contractors alongside 3,000 employees to address software vulnerabilities identified by advanced AI tools. The spending pressures near-term expenses but could reduce technology and operational risk over time. Bank of America hired 1,000 contractors to patch software flaws exposed by Anthropic’s Mythos
• Negative Sentiment: Regulators imposed more than $1.2 billion in penalties for failures involving anti-money-laundering, Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions compliance, including the failure to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. The charge reduced reported third-quarter EPS and raised concerns about management’s controls and potential remediation costs. Bank of America profit hurt by $1.2 billion fine over anti-money laundering shortcomings
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.08 and revenue of roughly $30.0 billion missed consensus estimates. Fixed-income trading revenue fell 17%, investment-banking activity weakened, expenses grew faster than revenue, and credit-loss provisions reached approximately $1.3 billion. Analysts subsequently lowered price targets, including Morgan Stanley, TD Cowen, Piper Sandler and Citigroup.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms announced investigations into potential securities-law violations or breaches of fiduciary duty following the penalty and earnings miss. These notices do not establish liability but add reputational and potential litigation risk for BAC investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Monday, September 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Bank of America from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.52.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $51.65 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.72. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $46.12 and a 52 week high of $65.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $361.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.27, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.21.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $29.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.58 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 16.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.06 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.60 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.36%.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is a diversified financial services company serving individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its principal businesses include consumer banking, wealth and investment management, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and sales and trading.

Through its banking and financial services businesses, the company offers deposit accounts, credit cards, mortgages, home equity products, consumer and business loans, payment services, treasury management, brokerage services and investment advice.