Morling Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Morling Financial Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,407 shares during the quarter. Morling Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 30.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 14,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 24,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 7,733 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors lifted its position in Bank of America by 3.8% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 24,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,019,000 after buying an additional 888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 27.3% in the first quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 25,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,063,000 after buying an additional 5,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective (up previously from $57.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Bank of America from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.86.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $51.64 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $51.70 and its 200 day moving average is $48.26. The stock has a market cap of $377.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. Bank of America Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.06 and a 52-week high of $54.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. 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 of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management 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.