Bank of America Corporation $BAC Stock: ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Holdings

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 314.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 283,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 215,365 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $15,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 167.6% in the second quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 69.9% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Underlying banking trends were solid: net interest income rose 8% year over year to $16.4 billion, average loans increased 6% to $1.23 trillion, and deposits grew 2% to $2.02 trillion. Global wealth and investment management revenue also increased 13%. Bank of America Reports Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America returned $8.3 billion to shareholders during the quarter through $2.2 billion of dividends and $6.0 billion of share repurchases, which may support the stock’s valuation after the selloff. Bank of America Reports $6.9 Billion Third-Quarter Net Income
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Brian Moynihan said the company has accountability for the compliance failures and expects remediation costs to decline over time. BAC also hired roughly 1,000 contractors to address software vulnerabilities identified by Anthropic’s Mythos AI model, adding to near-term expenses but potentially reducing operational risk. Bank of America hired 1,000 contractors to patch software flaws
• Negative Sentiment: U.S. regulators imposed more than $1.2 billion in penalties over anti-money-laundering and sanctions-control failures, including a failure to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. The non-tax-deductible charge reduced quarterly earnings by approximately $0.17 per share and raises concerns about ongoing compliance costs. Bank of America profit hurt by $1.2 billion fine
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted EPS was $1.08 versus the $1.10 consensus, while revenue of roughly $30.0 billion missed estimates near $30.6 billion. Reported net income fell 17% year over year to $6.9 billion, and weaker investment-banking and trading revenue, higher expenses, and a $1.3 billion provision for credit losses compounded the disappointment. BAC Q3 Earnings Miss
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms announced shareholder investigations following the regulatory disclosures, creating an additional headline and potential litigation risk, although no claims have been established. Securities Fraud Investigation Into Bank of America

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $70.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Bank of America from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Citigroup raised their price target on Bank of America from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. They set a “hold” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Bank of America from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.22.

Bank of America Trading Down 4.7%

BAC opened at $51.40 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $59.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.69. The firm has a market cap of $359.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.21. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.12 and a twelve month high of $65.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.02). Bank of America had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The firm had revenue of $29.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.60 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.36%.

Bank of America Profile

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is a diversified financial services company serving individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its principal businesses include consumer banking, wealth and investment management, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and sales and trading.

Through its banking and financial services businesses, the company offers deposit accounts, credit cards, mortgages, home equity products, consumer and business loans, payment services, treasury management, brokerage services and investment advice.