Mather Group LLC. Acquires 100,624 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Mather Group increased its Bank of America stake by 75.7% in the third quarter, purchasing 100,624 additional shares to bring its holdings to 233,572 shares valued at approximately $12.7 million.
• Bank of America shares fell 4.7% after the company reported quarterly adjusted EPS of $1.08 and revenue of $29.96 billion, both below analyst expectations. Results were pressured by a $1.21 billion regulatory penalty, higher expenses, weaker trading revenue, and increased credit-loss provisions.
• Despite the earnings miss and compliance concerns, the bank reported healthy underlying activity, raised its quarterly dividend to $0.32 per share, and retained a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average analyst price target of $64.22.

Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 75.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 233,572 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 100,624 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $12,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,571,060,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,359,172,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth $2,313,953,000. Amundi increased its position in Bank of America by 12.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 42,385,115 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,066,274,000 after buying an additional 4,721,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,135,112 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,517,599,000 after acquiring an additional 561,413 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Bank of America News

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Underlying banking activity remained healthy: net interest income increased 8% year over year to $16.4 billion, consumer banking revenue rose 4%, wealth-management revenue climbed 13%, average loans grew 6%, and deposits increased 2%. The bank also returned $8.3 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Bank of America Reports Third-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Some market commentary argued that the selloff could create a long-term buying opportunity, while options activity and a reported institutional purchase of long-dated BAC call options pointed to bullish interest among some investors. Unusual Long-Dated BAC Call Options
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Brian Moynihan said Bank of America is addressing regulatory requirements and expects elevated remediation and software-patching expenses to decline over time. The bank hired about 1,000 contractors to help fix software vulnerabilities identified through Anthropic’s Mythos testing. Bank of America Software-Patching Costs
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted EPS was $1.08 versus the $1.10 consensus, while revenue of roughly $30.0 billion missed estimates near $30.6 billion. Reported net income fell 17% to $6.9 billion, or $0.91 per share, after the regulatory charge. Bank of America Earnings Miss
• Negative Sentiment: Regulators imposed approximately $1.21 billion in penalties over anti-money-laundering, Bank Secrecy Act, and sanctions-compliance failures, including failures to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. The non-tax-deductible charge reduced quarterly earnings by about $0.17 per share and intensified concerns that compliance problems may persist. Bank of America Regulatory Penalties
• Negative Sentiment: Expenses rose faster than revenue, pushing the adjusted efficiency ratio to about 62% from 60%. Bond-trading revenue fell 17%, investment-banking and trading results disappointed, and provisions for credit losses reached $1.3 billion. Hotter-than-expected inflation and several shareholder-law-firm investigations added to the cautious backdrop.

Bank of America Trading Down 4.7%

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $51.40 on Thursday. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $46.12 and a fifty-two week high of $65.22. The firm has a market cap of $359.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.21. The business's fifty day moving average is $59.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $29.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.58 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 12.20%. Bank of America's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.60 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is 29.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Bank of America from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen started coverage on Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. They set a "hold" rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Bank of America from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $72.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.22.

Bank of America Company Profile

Bank of America Corporation NYSE: BAC is a diversified financial services company serving individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its principal businesses include consumer banking, wealth and investment management, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and sales and trading.

Through its banking and financial services businesses, the company offers deposit accounts, credit cards, mortgages, home equity products, consumer and business loans, payment services, treasury management, brokerage services and investment advice.

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