First United Bank & Trust Grows Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

First United Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the quarter. First United Bank & Trust’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $267,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 4.8% during the first quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 58,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,708 shares during the last quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc grew its position in Bank of America by 565.0% during the first quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 46,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,928,000 after acquiring an additional 39,248 shares during the last quarter. Sweeney & Michel LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,433,000. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% during the first quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 696,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,061,000 after purchasing an additional 50,296 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. Baird R W lowered Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. HSBC lowered Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.82.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.3%

Bank of America stock opened at $52.36 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.05. The company has a market cap of $387.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.34. Bank of America Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.06 and a 52-week high of $52.88. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company 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 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions 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 stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.