Stratos Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Stratos Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 180,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,239 shares during the quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $8,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% in the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 585.4% in the 2nd quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Acima Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 3.6%

BAC opened at $50.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.73. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $52.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $373.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The business had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BAC. Seaport Global Securities upped their target price on Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.18.

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.