Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Has $1.27 Million Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,521 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,255,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,198,846 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Bank of America by 959.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after buying an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $261,923,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 129,780,724 shares of company stock worth $5,342,589,705 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.5 %

Bank of America stock opened at $40.27 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The company has a market capitalization of $314.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BAC. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

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.