Front Street Capital Management Inc. Has $585,000 Stock Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Front Street Capital Management Inc. significantly reduced its holdings in Bank of America Corporation by 84.2%, ending the quarter with 14,014 shares valued at $585,000.
• Bank of America has initiated a $40 billion share buyback program, indicating that its board believes the shares are undervalued.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $0.89, beating expectations, while it also announced a dividend increase from $0.26 to $0.28 per share.

Front Street Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 84.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,014 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 74,739 shares during the period. Front Street Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Bank of America by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,007,718,000 after buying an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. Theleme Partners LLP acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $263,449,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 45,092,517 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,981,816,000 after buying an additional 5,092,504 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $217,979,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 4,414.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,654,022 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $194,212,000 after buying an additional 4,550,930 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $49.69 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.95 and a 200-day moving average of $44.08. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $50.92. 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 market cap of $368.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 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 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 company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 a boost from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Bank of America's payout ratio is currently 30.41%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a report on Friday, June 27th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.39.

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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