Circle Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Circle Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 19,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 278 shares during the quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Bank of America by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,935,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,985,785,000 after purchasing an additional 9,980,859 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,521,218,000 after purchasing an additional 803,570 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Bank of America by 45.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 45,092,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,981,816,000 after acquiring an additional 5,092,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in Bank of America by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 39,051,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,716,318,000 after acquiring an additional 9,258,040 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America 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 sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. The trade was 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 Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $48.2350 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $357.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.31. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $49.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.84. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. 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 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Phillip Securities cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Seventeen 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.13.

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.