Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Has $2.06 Million Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 21.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,597 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,733 shares during the period. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,521,218,000 after purchasing an additional 803,570 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 45.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,007,718,000 after buying an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,637,205,000 after buying an additional 1,413,313 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,333,351,000 after buying an additional 188,638 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.4% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 12,970,274 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $541,250,000 after buying an additional 300,944 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on BAC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.11.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.3%

BAC opened at $49.71 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $368.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $52.88. The company's 50-day moving average price is $49.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.46.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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