WealthShield Partners LLC Has $666,000 Holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)

WealthShield Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 120.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,959 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,734 shares during the quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hayek Kallen Investment Management increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Hayek Kallen Investment Management now owns 12,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 16,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 20,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $906,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Northern Financial Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% during the first quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 14,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $600,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.4% during the first quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 18,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price target on shares of Bank of America and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.13.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.3%

Bank of America stock opened at $45.44 on Thursday. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $49.31. The stock has a market cap of $336.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 30.41%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the sale, the insider 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Company 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.