Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Acquired by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 424.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 541,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 438,390 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $29,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 651,076,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,809,225,000 after buying an additional 23,351,183 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 144,371,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,448,816,000 after buying an additional 14,275,810 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 52,677,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,717,657,000 after buying an additional 1,272,315 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 640.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 46,516,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,399,798,000 after buying an additional 40,235,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Bank of America by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 43,924,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,266,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458,551 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Autonomous Res decreased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $62.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $61.50 to $57.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $70.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.06.

Key Headlines Impacting Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America is being highlighted as a potential beneficiary of a “higher-for-longer” or steeper yield-curve environment, which could support lending margins and fixed-rate asset repricing for large banks. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also viewing Bank of America as one of the better-value large banks, with commentary pointing to its relatively attractive valuation and Buffett-backed reputation as reasons it could hold up well versus peers. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are also using Bank of America’s research platform to make calls on other stocks, including Alphabet, Taiwan Semiconductor, ASML, Nvidia, Akamai, IQVIA, and VNET. These notes reinforce BofA’s influence on markets, but they do not directly change BAC’s fundamentals. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore lowered its price target on Bank of America from $70 to $61, which is a modest caution signal even though the firm kept an Outperform rating. Article Title

Bank of America Trading Down 0.2%

Bank of America stock opened at $49.77 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $50.40 and its 200-day moving average is $52.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $42.35 and a 1 year high of $57.55. The company has a market cap of $353.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.21.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.11. Bank of America had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.49%. The company had revenue of $30.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 27.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 83,832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $4,191,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 307,240 shares in the company, valued at $15,362,000. This represents a 21.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 94,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.94, for a total value of $4,412,360.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 170,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,988,436.96. The trade was a 35.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 354,588 shares of company stock valued at $17,814,296. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Profile

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.