Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 198,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,821 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,785,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 860,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,797,000 after buying an additional 226,246 shares in the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 10,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 4,711 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $1,644,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 3,544,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $155,781,000 after buying an additional 692,054 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.61.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE BAC opened at $50.68 on Wednesday. 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 Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $51.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $375.38 billion, a PE ratio of 14.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $48.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.36.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.