Phillips Wealth Planners LLC Acquires Shares of 12,268 Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Phillips Wealth Planners LLC has made a new investment in Bank of America, purchasing 12,268 shares valued at approximately $578,000 in the 2nd quarter.
• Bank of America announced a stock buyback program allowing the company to repurchase up to $40 billion of its outstanding shares, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• The company has also increased its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, reflecting a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,268 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $578,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Nova Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% in the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Vega Investment Solutions bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded up $0.14 on Friday, hitting $52.27. 98,925,969 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 35,208,044. The stock has a market capitalization of $387.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.34. Bank of America Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.06 and a 12 month high of $52.66. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $48.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.53. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost 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 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BAC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. HSBC cut shares of Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.82.

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.