Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) Holdings Boosted by Davis Rea LTD.

Davis Rea LTD. raised its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 39.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 264,119 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up 2.9% of Davis Rea LTD.'s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Davis Rea LTD.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $11,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Vega Investment Solutions bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 797 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. HSBC cut shares of Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.03.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $48.47. 24,453,044 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 43,373,284. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $49.31. The company has a market capitalization of $365.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.30. The firm's fifty day moving average is $45.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.74.

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

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 repurchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is 30.41%.

About Bank of America

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.