Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Applied Finance Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 13.4% during the second quarter, holding a total of 543,486 shares valued at approximately $25.7 million.
• Bank of America reported $1.06 EPS for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.93, with a revenue of $28.09 billion, marking a 10.8% increase year-over-year.
• The company's Board of Directors authorized a $40 billion share buyback program, indicating confidence in the stock's valuation along with a recent increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.28 per share.

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 13.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 543,486 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 64,045 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises about 1.8% of Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $25,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Unisphere Establishment lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1,642.5% during the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 4,195,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $175,057,000 after purchasing an additional 3,954,250 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at $164,623,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at $152,098,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in Bank of America by 62.9% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 8,904,561 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $421,564,000 after buying an additional 3,438,876 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $50.38 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $50.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.73. The company has a market capitalization of $373.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $52.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The company had revenue of $28.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Bank of America's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication 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 was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Seaport Global Securities increased their target price on Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $56.18.

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.

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