Venture Visionary Partners LLC Increases Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

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Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 6.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 243,324 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 14,360 shares during the quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 860,005 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,797,000 after purchasing an additional 226,246 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 706,046 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,031,000 after purchasing an additional 42,015 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 85,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,770,000 after purchasing an additional 8,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 907,697 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,911,000 after purchasing an additional 5,155 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on BAC shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. HSBC lowered shares of Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.13.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $47.92 on Tuesday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $46.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.76. The company has a market cap of $354.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Corporation has a one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $49.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company 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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