Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 12.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 74,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,351 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Bank of America by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,935,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,985,785,000 after acquiring an additional 9,980,859 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in Bank of America by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 39,051,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,716,318,000 after acquiring an additional 9,258,040 shares during the last quarter. Theleme Partners LLP purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $263,449,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 45,092,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,981,816,000 after acquiring an additional 5,092,504 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $53.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $49.4850 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $366.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of $47.06 and a 200 day moving average of $43.86. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $49.66.

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. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s dividend 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.