Samlyn Capital LLC Purchases 2,407,519 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Samlyn Capital LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 35.5%, owning approximately 9.19 million shares valued at $383.58 million, making it the third largest position in their portfolio.
• Several analysts have raised their target prices for Bank of America's shares, with Citigroup setting a new target at $54.00 and maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Bank of America announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.28 per share and has a $40 billion stock buyback plan approved by its board, suggesting confidence in the stock's valuation.

Samlyn Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 35.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,191,894 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,407,519 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises about 5.7% of Samlyn Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Samlyn Capital LLC owned 0.12% of Bank of America worth $383,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BAC. Phillip Securities lowered Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Friday, June 27th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.39.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,139,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,783,637. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $48.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $371.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.34. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $50.92.

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 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 analysts' expectations of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. Bank of America's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This is a boost from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is 32.75%.

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.