Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Has $5.68 Million Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI reduced its holdings in Bank of America by 40% during the second quarter, owning 120,065 shares valued at approximately $5.68 million after the sale.
• Bank of America announced a share repurchase program allowing for the buyback of up to $40 billion of its shares, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.28, representing an annualized yield of 2.2%, up from the previous dividend of $0.26.

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lowered its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 40.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 120,065 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 80,046 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI's holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 21.7% in the second quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 41,718 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,974,000 after buying an additional 7,431 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 28.2% in the second quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC now owns 39,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,871,000 after buying an additional 8,709 shares during the period. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $754,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 169,057 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,787 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $50.67 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $375.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.29 and a 200-day moving average of $45.13.

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

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BAC. Baird R W downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bank of America from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $52.78.

Bank of America Profile

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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