Bank of America Corporation $BAC Stock Holdings Raised by West Wealth Group LLC

Key Points

• West Wealth Group LLC increased its Bank of America stake by 246.9% in the third quarter, reaching 34,373 shares valued at approximately $1.87 million. Institutional investors collectively own 70.71% of BAC.
• Bank of America shares opened at $51.40, down 4.7%, after the company reported adjusted EPS of $1.08 and revenue of $29.96 billion, both below analyst expectations. The quarter was also affected by a roughly $1.21 billion regulatory penalty and higher expenses.
• The bank raised its quarterly dividend to $0.32 per share, or $1.28 annually, representing a 2.5% yield. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $64.22.

West Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 246.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,373 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 24,463 shares during the quarter. West Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth $2,571,060,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Bank of America during the second quarter worth $2,359,172,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter valued at $2,313,953,000. Amundi lifted its stake in Bank of America by 12.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 42,385,115 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,066,274,000 after acquiring an additional 4,721,969 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1.8% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 561,413 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 4.7%

Shares of BAC stock opened at $51.40 on Thursday. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $46.12 and a 12-month high of $65.22. The company has a market capitalization of $359.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $29.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.58 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 12.20%. Bank of America's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.06 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.60 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

Key Bank of America News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Underlying banking activity remained healthy: net interest income increased 8% year over year to $16.4 billion, consumer banking revenue rose 4%, wealth-management revenue climbed 13%, average loans grew 6%, and deposits increased 2%. The bank also returned $8.3 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Bank of America Reports Third-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Some market commentary argued that the selloff could create a long-term buying opportunity, while options activity and a reported institutional purchase of long-dated BAC call options pointed to bullish interest among some investors. Unusual Long-Dated BAC Call Options
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Brian Moynihan said Bank of America is addressing regulatory requirements and expects elevated remediation and software-patching expenses to decline over time. The bank hired about 1,000 contractors to help fix software vulnerabilities identified through Anthropic’s Mythos testing. Bank of America Software-Patching Costs
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted EPS was $1.08 versus the $1.10 consensus, while revenue of roughly $30.0 billion missed estimates near $30.6 billion. Reported net income fell 17% to $6.9 billion, or $0.91 per share, after the regulatory charge. Bank of America Earnings Miss
• Negative Sentiment: Regulators imposed approximately $1.21 billion in penalties over anti-money-laundering, Bank Secrecy Act, and sanctions-compliance failures, including failures to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. The non-tax-deductible charge reduced quarterly earnings by about $0.17 per share and intensified concerns that compliance problems may persist. Bank of America Regulatory Penalties
• Negative Sentiment: Expenses rose faster than revenue, pushing the adjusted efficiency ratio to about 62% from 60%. Bond-trading revenue fell 17%, investment-banking and trading results disappointed, and provisions for credit losses reached $1.3 billion. Hotter-than-expected inflation and several shareholder-law-firm investigations added to the cautious backdrop.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BAC. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Bank of America from $70.00 to $67.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.22.

About Bank of America

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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