Portside Wealth Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 12.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 56,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,441 shares during the quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Common Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the second quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 259,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,288,000 after buying an additional 24,740 shares during the period. Disciplined Investments LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at $217,000. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its stake in Bank of America by 121.0% in the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 62,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 33,963 shares during the period. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 7.3% during the second quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC now owns 6,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCG Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth $287,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on BAC. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Bank of America from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.86.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $51.49 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $376.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $54.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.67 and a 200 day moving average of $48.19.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The business had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 30.52%.

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

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.