Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Purchased by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 8.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 198,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,534 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Common Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 259,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,288,000 after buying an additional 24,740 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 121.0% during the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 62,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after acquiring an additional 33,963 shares during the period. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 7.3% during the second quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC now owns 6,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the period. CCG Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter worth about $287,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 169,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,000,000 after acquiring an additional 5,787 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value 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 $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 2.4%

Bank of America stock opened at $50.04 on Wednesday. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $52.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $370.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $49.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.62.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its 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. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. HSBC lifted 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 note on Thursday, October 2nd. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.64.

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.