Kovack Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Kovack Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 13.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,969 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Bank of America by 45.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after buying an additional 14,960,086 shares in the last quarter. Unisphere Establishment grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1,642.5% during the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 4,195,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $175,057,000 after purchasing an additional 3,954,250 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $164,623,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $152,098,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB grew 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bank of America from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays increased their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Seaport Global Securities increased 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. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Ameriprise Financial upgraded Bank of America to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Twenty-three 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.59.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $53.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $396.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $53.64.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.52%.

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

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.