Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Acquired by Bridgeway Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Bridgeway Capital Management LLC has increased its stake in Bank of America by 9.6%, holding approximately 458,806 shares, valued at $19,146,000.
• The Board of Directors has authorized a $40 billion share buyback plan, indicating confidence in the stock's value.
• Bank of America recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.2%.

Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 9.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 458,806 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 40,327 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for approximately 0.5% of Bridgeway Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $19,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Banque Transatlantique SA boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 141.5% during the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 108,679 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,191,000 after acquiring an additional 63,679 shares during the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 409.6% during the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 839,929 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $35,050,000 after acquiring an additional 675,109 shares during the last quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 15.3% during the first quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 11,616 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542 shares during the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 3.8% during the first quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 53,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,228,000 after acquiring an additional 1,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in Bank of America by 3.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,637,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413,313 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE BAC traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $49.69. The stock had a trading volume of 40,059,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,778,700. The company has a market capitalization of $368.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.34. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $50.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $47.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.09.

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. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The company's revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. On average, analysts predict 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 share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America's payout ratio is 32.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BAC. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W lowered Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. HSBC lowered Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Citigroup raised their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.39.

Bank of America Company 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.