Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Raises Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 4.7%, acquiring an additional 18,255 shares for a total holding of 408,611 shares valued at approximately $19.3 million.
• Bank of America announced a $40 billion stock buyback program to reacquire about 11.1% of its shares, indicating management believes the stock is undervalued.
• The bank also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, representing an annual yield of 2.1% as part of its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 408,611 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 18,255 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $19,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,521,218,000 after acquiring an additional 803,570 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,637,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413,313 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,333,351,000 after purchasing an additional 188,638 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.4% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 12,970,274 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $541,250,000 after purchasing an additional 300,944 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 223,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on BAC. HSBC lowered 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 research report on Monday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 target price on Bank of America and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bank of America from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.82.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:BAC traded down $0.22 on Monday, hitting $52.03. The stock had a trading volume of 27,332,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,902,632. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $52.66. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $48.65 and its 200 day moving average is $44.63. The company has a market cap of $385.39 billion, a PE ratio of 15.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.34.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.Bank of America's revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

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.