Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 62.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,021 shares during the quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 4,414.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,654,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $194,212,000 after purchasing an additional 4,550,930 shares in the last quarter. First County Bank CT increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 5,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the period. Atlas Brown Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 38,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,623,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Friday, June 27th. HSBC downgraded Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 target price on Bank of America and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.92.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $52.21 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $386.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.93. 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 $52.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during 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%.Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

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.