Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 7,613 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America Corporation by 11.0% during the second quarter, acquiring an additional 7,613 shares, bringing its total to 76,632 shares valued at approximately $3.63 million.
• Several analysts have recently raised their price targets for Bank of America, with Wolfe Research setting a new target of $58.00 and Goldman Sachs increasing theirs to $59.00, while the consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy".
• Bank of America recently announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.26 to $0.28, representing an annualized payout of $1.12, with a dividend yield of 2.3%.

Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 76,632 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,613 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cascade Investment Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter valued at $226,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.8% during the second quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 28,394 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter valued at $113,372,000. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.3% during the second quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 51,069 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,417,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Ramirez Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 21.6% during the second quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,597 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 7,733 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.11.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $49.71 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $52.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $368.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.33. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $49.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.46.

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 EPS 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 firm 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 prior year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. 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.

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