Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Purchases 5,453 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its stake in Bank of America Corporation by 9.3%, acquiring an additional 5,453 shares, bringing its total holdings to 64,073 shares valued at approximately $3.03 million.
• Bank of America has announced a significant $40 billion share buyback program, indicating confidence from the Board regarding the stock's valuation.
• The company recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.12 and a yield of 2.2%.

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,073 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,453 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 54.2% during the second quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 38,655 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,829,000 after purchasing an additional 13,585 shares during the last quarter. DMKC Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 52.1% during the second quarter. DMKC Advisory Services LLC now owns 165,096 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,763,000 after purchasing an additional 56,534 shares during the last quarter. EWA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 21.5% during the second quarter. EWA LLC now owns 8,129 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares during the last quarter. Northstar Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 21.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 7,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC opened at $50.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $373.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $52.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.19. 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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company's 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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Oppenheimer reduced 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 report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $52.88.

Bank of America Company 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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