CenterStar Asset Management LLC Takes $289,000 Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• CenterStar Asset Management LLC has acquired a new stake in Bank of America, purchasing 6,101 shares valued at approximately $289,000.
• Bank of America has initiated a stock repurchase plan authorizing up to $40 billion for share buybacks, indicating management believes the stock is undervalued.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, representing an annual yield of 2.2%.

CenterStar Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,101 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Jmac Enterprises LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 19,740 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $934,000 after acquiring an additional 3,303 shares in the last quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at about $242,000. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 9.3% during the second quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 64,073 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,032,000 after purchasing an additional 5,453 shares in the last quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 54.2% during the 2nd quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 38,655 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,829,000 after purchasing an additional 13,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DMKC Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 52.1% in the 2nd quarter. DMKC Advisory Services LLC now owns 165,096 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,763,000 after buying an additional 56,534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the sale, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was 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 the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $50.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $49.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.19. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $52.88. The stock has a market cap of $373.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.33.

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 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 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 revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's payout ratio is 32.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. Phillip Securities lowered Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $52.88.

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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