Cardano Risk Management B.V. Purchases New Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Cardano Risk Management B.V. has acquired a new stake in Bank of America, purchasing approximately 2.4 million shares valued at about $113 million, which represents about 1.5% of its portfolio.
• Bank of America recently announced a stock buyback plan of up to $40 billion, indicating that the company believes its shares may be undervalued.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, reflecting a commitment to returning capital to shareholders.

Cardano Risk Management B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,395,852 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $113,372,000. Bank of America accounts for approximately 1.5% of Cardano Risk Management B.V.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,785,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 8.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 111,527 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,654,000 after purchasing an additional 8,435 shares during the period. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the first quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 11.9% during the first quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 16,235 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 11.8% during the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 445,157 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,576,000 after purchasing an additional 47,036 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $49.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $49.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.46. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $52.88. The firm has a market cap of $368.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. Bank of America's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 reacquire up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.11.

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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