377,352 Shares in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) Bought by Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise has acquired a new stake in Bank of America, purchasing 377,352 shares valued at approximately $15.7 million, representing 0.7% of its total holdings.
• Bank of America announced a $40 billion stock buyback program aimed at repurchasing up to 11.1% of its outstanding shares, indicating the board's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, reflecting a focus on returning value to shareholders with a current yield of 2.32%.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 377,352 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $15,746,000. Bank of America comprises about 0.7% of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,210,527 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,876,853,000 after purchasing an additional 17,031,143 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 122,437,422 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,381,126,000 after purchasing an additional 11,691,451 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,935,940 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,985,785,000 after buying an additional 9,980,859 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 39.6% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 33,152,004 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,457,031,000 after buying an additional 9,409,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 39,051,595 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,716,318,000 after buying an additional 9,258,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Cfra Research upped their target price on shares of Bank of America to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $50.13.

Bank of America Stock Down 3.6%

Bank of America stock traded down $1.69 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $45.58. The company had a trading volume of 38,810,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 42,941,023. The firm has a market capitalization of $343.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm's fifty day moving average is $46.22 and its 200-day moving average is $43.81. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $49.31.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.41%.

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.