Pzena Investment Management LLC Buys 223,798 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 3.5%, acquiring an additional 223,798 shares, bringing its total holdings to approximately 6.57 million shares.
• Wall Street analysts have adjusted their price targets for Bank of America, with most expecting growth; the average target currently sits at $54.64.
• Bank of America recently declared a dividend increase from $0.26 to $0.28 per share and announced a $40 billion stock buyback program.

Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,576,743 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 223,798 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up approximately 1.0% of Pzena Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Bank of America worth $311,211,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lion Street Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 17,691 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 339,304 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,056,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 101,392 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 28,697 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Capital Group raised its holdings in Bank of America by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 22,604 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,070,000 after purchasing an additional 3,583 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res cut Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, HSBC raised their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $48.62 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $360.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $49.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $52.88.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.75%.

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

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.

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