Swedbank AB Purchases 156,232 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Swedbank AB increased its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,932,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 156,232 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for 0.7% of Swedbank AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Swedbank AB owned about 0.17% of Bank of America worth $539,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Vega Investment Solutions bought a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $50.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a market cap of $375.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $48.10 and a 200 day moving average of $44.23. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $50.96.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 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 the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The firm’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. As a group, equities research 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 authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on Bank of America and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. HSBC cut Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. Baird R W cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.39.

About Bank of America

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.