Stratos Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Stratos Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 2.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 180,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,239 shares during the quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $8,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 803,570 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after acquiring an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,637,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413,313 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,333,351,000 after purchasing an additional 188,638 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in Bank of America by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 12,970,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $541,250,000 after purchasing an additional 300,944 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC upped their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Seaport Global Securities lifted their target price on Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.18.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $50.38 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $50.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $373.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $52.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $28.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.75%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.