Woodline Partners LP Raises Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Bank of America by 39.5% in the first quarter, owning 559,414 shares worth $23.34 million after acquiring an additional 158,528 shares.
• Bank of America announced a $40 billion stock buyback plan, reflecting the board's belief that the stock is undervalued, and also increased its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28 per share.
• The stock has shown positive performance with a 52-week high of $50.92 and reported earnings of $0.89 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations.

Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 39.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 559,414 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 158,528 shares during the quarter. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in Bank of America were worth $23,344,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,521,218,000 after purchasing an additional 803,570 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 45,092,517 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,981,816,000 after buying an additional 5,092,504 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

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 stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.3%

Bank of America stock traded down $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $50.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 27,849,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,238,896. The stock has a market capitalization of $374.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.34. The stock's fifty day moving average is $48.13 and its 200 day moving average is $44.28. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $50.96. 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 (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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in 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 usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. HSBC downgraded Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on Bank of America and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Baird R W downgraded Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Sixteen investment 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 has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.39.

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.