Investment Advisory Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Investment Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 6.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $395,000 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 BAC. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Unisphere Establishment grew its position in Bank of America by 1,642.5% in the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 4,195,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $175,057,000 after acquiring an additional 3,954,250 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter worth $164,623,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth $152,098,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 62.9% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 8,904,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $421,564,000 after purchasing an additional 3,438,876 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Seaport Global Securities lifted their target price on Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.64.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $48.62 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $52.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $360.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results 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. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. 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 approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s 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 directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.