Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Bought by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in Bank of America by 7.0% during the second quarter, now owning 333,206 shares valued at approximately $15.8 million.
• Analysts have provided a generally positive outlook for Bank of America, with 21 analysts rating it a Buy and an average price target of $54.11.
• Bank of America declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.28 per share and has authorized a stock repurchase program of $40 billion, reflecting confidence in its stock value.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 7.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 333,206 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 21,803 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Bank of America were worth $15,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% during the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth $28,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth $40,000. HighMark Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 233.6% during the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the period. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% during the first quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,157 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Baird R W cut shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Seaport Global Securities increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.11.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $49.82 on Thursday. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $52.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.50 and a 200-day moving average of $45.42. The firm has a market cap of $369.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Bank of America's payout ratio is 32.75%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm's 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. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Bank of America 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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