Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Purchased by SPC Financial Inc.

SPC Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,883 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st 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 last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in Bank of America by 360.9% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 29,198,846 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% in the fourth 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 last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Bank of America by 959.6% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter valued at $261,923,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.7 %

BAC stock opened at $39.68 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $310.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 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. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.07.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,915,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.52, for a total transaction of $154,725,779.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 802,668,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,721,473,347.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,915,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.52, for a total transaction of $154,725,779.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 802,668,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,721,473,347.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,942,405 shares of company stock worth $5,785,202,516 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently 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.