Bank of America Corporation $BAC Stock Position Cut by Theleme Partners LLP

Key Points

• Theleme Partners LLP significantly reduced its stake in Bank of America by 42%, holding 3,474,300 shares following the sale of 2,520,000 shares in the first quarter.
• Bank of America reported an EPS of $0.89 for the last quarter, exceeding analyst estimates of $0.86, while also increasing its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share.
• Several institutional investors adjusted their positions in Bank of America, with Deutsche Bank AG increasing its holdings by 45.1%, now owning over 48 million shares.

Theleme Partners LLP cut its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 42.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,474,300 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,520,000 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up approximately 11.4% of Theleme Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Theleme Partners LLP's holdings in Bank of America were worth $144,983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,007,718,000 after acquiring an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 45,092,517 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,981,816,000 after acquiring an additional 5,092,504 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $217,979,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4,414.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,654,022 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $194,212,000 after acquiring an additional 4,550,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unisphere Establishment increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1,642.5% in the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 4,195,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $175,057,000 after acquiring an additional 3,954,250 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BAC. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price target on Bank of America and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $53.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.39.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of BAC stock opened at $49.69 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $50.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $47.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $368.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.41%.

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

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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