Hixon Zuercher LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Hixon Zuercher LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares during the quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. 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 worth $2,521,218,000 after buying an additional 803,570 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $2,007,718,000 after acquiring an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position 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 worth $1,637,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413,313 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,333,351,000 after acquiring an additional 188,638 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Bank of America by 5.7% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 16,562,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,759,000 after purchasing an additional 894,027 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.23.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $52.44 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $52.88. The company has a market capitalization of $388.38 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $50.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The company had revenue of $28.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 30.52%.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated 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 typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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