Bank of America Corporation $BAC Position Trimmed by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

Key Points

• LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. reduced its holdings in Bank of America by 61.4% in the 2nd quarter, owning 96,473 shares after selling 153,773 shares.
• Bank of America announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.28 per share, marking a 2.2% yield and representing a rise from the previous dividend of $0.26.
• A stock buyback program has been approved to repurchase up to $40 billion in outstanding shares, indicating confidence in the company's stock value.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 61.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 96,473 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 153,773 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 115.6% during the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 14,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 7,550 shares during the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 83,492 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,484,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 11,647 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 1,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC now owns 52,985 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,211,000 after buying an additional 842 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of BAC stock opened at $50.63 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $49.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $52.88. The company has a market capitalization of $374.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bank of America from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. HSBC lifted their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res lowered Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% 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.

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