14,265 Shares in Bank of America Corporation $BAC Acquired by Hilltop National Bank

Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 14,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $675,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Nova Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 75.2% during the 2nd quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. HighMark Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 233.6% during the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 41.2% during the first quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perkins Coie Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 67.8% during the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 1,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.38.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $50.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $374.98 billion, a PE ratio of 14.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.26. Bank of America Corporation has a one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $52.88.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

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.