Lincluden Management Ltd. Sells 7,397 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Lincluden Management Ltd. reduced its position in Bank of America shares by 5.0%, now holding 139,297 shares valued at $6,592,000, making BAC its 29th largest investment.
• Analysts have set a consensus target price of $54.64 for Bank of America, with various ratings including upgrades to "outperform" from Royal Bank of Canada and Daiwa Capital Markets.
• Bank of America recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share and is authorized to repurchase up to $40 billion in outstanding shares.

Lincluden Management Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,297 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,397 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for approximately 0.7% of Lincluden Management Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Lincluden Management Ltd.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $6,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 25,143 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 worth $4,654,000 after acquiring an additional 8,435 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 14.0% during the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 59,491 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 7,306 shares in the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 18.3% during the first quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 39,982 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,668,000 after acquiring an additional 6,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 35.2% during the first quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,181 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $54.64.

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 completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $48.62 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $52.88. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $49.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.52. The firm has a market cap of $360.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is a boost from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program 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 buy up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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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