Massachusetts Wealth Management Purchases New Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Massachusetts Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 71,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,371,000. Bank of America comprises approximately 1.9% of Massachusetts Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Common Asset Management LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 10.5% during the second quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 259,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,288,000 after purchasing an additional 24,740 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. raised its position 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 valued at $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 33,963 shares during the period. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the first quarter valued at approximately $998,000. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 37.2% during the first quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 65,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,714,000 after purchasing an additional 17,619 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was 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. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.9%

BAC opened at $49.82 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $49.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.42. The company has a market capitalization of $369.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $52.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. Erste Group Bank upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.11.

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.