Uptick Partners LLC Buys Shares of 5,675 Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Uptick Partners LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Chesapeake Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.7% during the second quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 30,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,641 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 13.2% during the second quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 102,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,964,000 after acquiring an additional 11,912 shares during the period. Essex LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.0% during the second quarter. Essex LLC now owns 9,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 8.5% during the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 198,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,396,000 after acquiring an additional 15,534 shares during the period. Finally, Triton Wealth Management PLLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth $466,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $52.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $52.88. The company has a market capitalization of $387.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a fifty day moving average of $49.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.67.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect 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 repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Baird R W downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.64.

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.