Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $587.12 Million Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has decreased its holdings in Bank of America by 6.6%, owning about 14 million shares valued at approximately $587 million.
• Multiple analysts have updated their price targets for Bank of America, with Morgan Stanley raising its target from $47 to $49, while HSBC upgraded its target to $51 but downgraded the stock rating to "hold."
• Bank of America announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.26 to $0.28 per share and initiated a share buyback program of $40 billion to repurchase outstanding shares.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board decreased its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 6.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,069,520 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 990,488 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.19% of Bank of America worth $587,121,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Bank of America by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 860,005 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,797,000 after purchasing an additional 226,246 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in Bank of America by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 44,135 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,940,000 after purchasing an additional 2,799 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,330,000. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 7,250.0% in the 4th quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,940 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. 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 downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price target for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $50.76. The company had a trading volume of 32,491,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,803,852. 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 firm has a market cap of $375.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.34. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $47.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.93. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $50.92.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

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 dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is 30.41%.

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

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.