AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Sells 106,507 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lessened its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 49.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 107,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 106,507 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Bank of America by 45.1% during 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. Unisphere Establishment boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1,642.5% in the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 4,195,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $175,057,000 after acquiring an additional 3,954,250 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $164,623,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $152,098,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 62.9% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 8,904,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $421,564,000 after purchasing an additional 3,438,876 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Bank of America from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.32.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.8%

BAC stock opened at $52.98 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $392.43 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $53.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.56.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.