Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,440 shares during the quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 8.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 111,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,654,000 after purchasing an additional 8,435 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 14.0% in the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 59,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 7,306 shares during the period. Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 18.3% in the first quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 39,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,668,000 after purchasing an additional 6,194 shares during the period. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 35.2% in the first quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 2.4%

BAC stock opened at $48.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $52.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $49.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.52. The stock has a market cap of $360.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This trade represents 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. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America 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.