Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Has $354,000 Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC cut its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,490 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 473 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,521,218,000 after purchasing an additional 803,570 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,637,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413,313 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,333,351,000 after purchasing an additional 188,638 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.4% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 12,970,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $541,250,000 after purchasing an additional 300,944 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $55.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.88.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $50.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $373.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.19. Bank of America Corporation has a one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $52.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. The business 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Research analysts predict 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.