Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Lowers Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 345,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 10,400 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in Bank of America were worth $16,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 75.2% during the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $40,000. HighMark Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 233.6% during the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% during the first quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,157 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Seaport Global Securities increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.93.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $50.22 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $49.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.39. The stock has a market cap of $371.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $52.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for 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 firm's revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is 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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