6,000 Shares in Bank of America Corporation $BAC Acquired by CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd.

Key Points

• CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. has invested $250,000 in Bank of America by purchasing 6,000 shares, highlighting increased institutional interest in the financial services sector.
• Bank of America is undergoing significant institutional investment changes, with multiple firms, including Vega Investment Solutions and Cloud Capital Management, recently acquiring new positions in the bank.
• The bank has approved a $40 billion share buyback program and increased its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, reflecting confidence in its financial health.

CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 860,005 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $37,797,000 after acquiring an additional 226,246 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 20,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 5,691 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 25,614 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,126,000 after acquiring an additional 4,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kahn Brothers Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. now owns 19,430 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $854,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of BAC stock traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $50.17. The company had a trading volume of 31,574,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,886,930. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $50.92. The company has a market capitalization of $371.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.34. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $48.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.15.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Bank of America's quarterly revenue 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 share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Bank of America's payout ratio is 32.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HSBC cut Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on 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 downgraded Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.