BCS Wealth Management Grows Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• BCS Wealth Management increased its stake in Bank of America Corporation by 237.1% in Q2, acquiring a total of 25,318 shares valued at approximately $1.2 million.
• A number of prominent institutional investors, including Deutsche Bank AG and GAMMA Investing LLC, significantly boosted their positions in BAC during the first quarter.
• Bank of America recently announced a $40 billion stock buyback program and a dividend increase from $0.26 to $0.28, reflecting confidence in its stock valuation.

BCS Wealth Management increased its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 237.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 25,318 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 17,808 shares during the period. BCS Wealth Management's holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 4,414.4% during the first 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. Unisphere Establishment lifted 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 worth $175,057,000 after acquiring an additional 3,954,250 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $164,623,000. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at approximately $152,098,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were 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 owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, HSBC cut Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.76.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $51.68 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $382.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Bank of America Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.06 and a 12 month high of $52.88.

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 the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. Bank of America's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict 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 approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid 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 yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

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.

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