Hancock Whitney Corp Boosts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position 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 worth $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,363,928,000 after acquiring an additional 2,935,040 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Bank of America by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after acquiring an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,654,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,820,000 after acquiring an additional 5,488,790 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 129,780,724 shares of company stock worth $5,342,589,705. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of BAC opened at $40.27 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $39.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $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. The company has a market capitalization of $314.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

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.