WCG Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

WCG Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 66,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,181 shares during the period. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barometer Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $2,175,000. IMA Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at $1,453,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 149.9% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 12,744 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,935,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $3,601,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value 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 114,391,986 shares of company stock valued at $4,719,796,383. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays raised 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 note on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.2 %

Bank of America stock opened at $39.64 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.81. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $44.44. The company has a market capitalization of $309.96 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost 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 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.