Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Sold by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA cut its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,155 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 75.2% during the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $40,000. HighMark Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 233.6% during the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 37.1% during the first quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Hsbc Global Res cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Nineteen investment 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.38.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $50.63 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $49.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.30. Bank of America Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.06 and a 52-week high of $52.88. The firm has a market cap of $374.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. 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 results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.75%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents 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 owned by corporate insiders.

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.