Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Grows Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. has increased its holdings in Bank of America by 26.1%, now owning 195,777 shares valued at approximately $8.17 million.
• Bank of America recently implemented a stock repurchase program allowing for the buyback of up to $40 billion in shares, indicating the board's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• After a recent earnings report, the company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, representing a yield of 2.3%.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 26.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 195,777 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 40,559 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $8,170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in Bank of America by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 860,005 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,797,000 after buying an additional 226,246 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 20,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 5,691 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 25,614 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,126,000 after buying an additional 4,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kahn Brothers Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. now owns 19,430 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $854,000 after buying an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC traded down $0.13 on Wednesday, hitting $50.17. 31,674,616 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 34,777,764. The firm has a market cap of $371.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.34. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $48.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.15. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $50.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

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

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $53.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. HSBC downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Baird R W cut Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.