Bank of America Corporation $BAC Stock: Cohen Klingenstein LLC Raises Stake

Key Points

• Cohen Klingenstein LLC increased its Bank of America stake by 12.9% in the third quarter, acquiring 35,840 additional shares for a total of 313,652 shares valued at approximately $17.1 million.
• Institutional investors own 70.71% of BAC shares, with firms including Legal & General, Amundi, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon making significant investments.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.52, despite Bank of America slightly missing quarterly earnings and revenue estimates.

Cohen Klingenstein LLC grew its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 12.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 313,652 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 35,840 shares during the period. Bank of America accounts for 0.6% of Cohen Klingenstein LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Cohen Klingenstein LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $17,072,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter worth about $2,571,060,000. Amundi increased its position in Bank of America by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 42,385,115 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,066,274,000 after purchasing an additional 4,721,969 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,359,172,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,313,953,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,135,112 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,517,599,000 after purchasing an additional 561,413 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $72.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Evercore set a $62.00 target price on Bank of America in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.52.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC stock opened at $51.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $361.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.72. Bank of America Corporation has a one year low of $46.12 and a one year high of $65.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.02). Bank of America had a net margin of 16.80% and a return on equity of 12.15%. The firm had revenue of $29.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.06 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.60 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.36%.

More Bank of America News

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Net interest income increased 8% year over year to approximately $16.4 billion, while average loans rose 6% and deposits grew 2%. Management also targeted at least 8% net-interest-income growth in 2027, supported by loan and deposit expansion. BAC Q3 Earnings Call Highlights NII Growth and Trading Pressure
• Positive Sentiment: Consumer banking and wealth management remained areas of strength, with Merrill’s fee-based advisory assets reaching a record $1.9 trillion. Bank of America also returned $8.3 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Merrill Lynch’s Fee-Based Advisory Assets Just Hit a Record $1.9 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: Despite lower targets, several analysts retained favorable views. Baird upgraded BAC to “outperform,” while Citigroup, Truist and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods maintained buy or outperform ratings. The revised targets remain above the current share price.
• Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America said it has added roughly 1,000 contractors alongside 3,000 employees to address software vulnerabilities identified by advanced AI tools. The spending pressures near-term expenses but could reduce technology and operational risk over time. Bank of America hired 1,000 contractors to patch software flaws exposed by Anthropic’s Mythos
• Negative Sentiment: Regulators imposed more than $1.2 billion in penalties for failures involving anti-money-laundering, Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions compliance, including the failure to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. The charge reduced reported third-quarter EPS and raised concerns about management’s controls and potential remediation costs. Bank of America profit hurt by $1.2 billion fine over anti-money laundering shortcomings
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.08 and revenue of roughly $30.0 billion missed consensus estimates. Fixed-income trading revenue fell 17%, investment-banking activity weakened, expenses grew faster than revenue, and credit-loss provisions reached approximately $1.3 billion. Analysts subsequently lowered price targets, including Morgan Stanley, TD Cowen, Piper Sandler and Citigroup.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms announced investigations into potential securities-law violations or breaches of fiduciary duty following the penalty and earnings miss. These notices do not establish liability but add reputational and potential litigation risk for BAC investors.

Bank of America Profile

Bank of America Corporation NYSE: BAC is a diversified financial services company serving individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its principal businesses include consumer banking, wealth and investment management, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and sales and trading.

Through its banking and financial services businesses, the company offers deposit accounts, credit cards, mortgages, home equity products, consumer and business loans, payment services, treasury management, brokerage services and investment advice.

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