Bank of America Corporation $BAC Stock Acquired by Focus Financial Network Inc.

Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 24.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,565 shares during the quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,438,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bamco Inc. NY increased its holdings in Bank of America by 45.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 40,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 12,794 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth $4,089,000. Bernicke Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth about $2,132,000. Legacy Private Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 11.7% in the third quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 115,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,267,000 after purchasing an additional 12,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $94,447,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $51.40 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.69. Bank of America Corporation has a 52-week low of $46.12 and a 52-week high of $65.22. The firm has a market cap of $359.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.21.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.02). Bank of America had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 17.56%. The business had revenue of $29.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.60 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 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Bank of America from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $70.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Monday, September 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Bank of America from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

Key Stories Impacting Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Underlying banking activity remained healthy: net interest income increased 8% year over year to $16.4 billion, consumer banking revenue rose 4%, wealth-management revenue climbed 13%, average loans grew 6%, and deposits increased 2%. The bank also returned $8.3 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Bank of America Reports Third-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Some market commentary argued that the selloff could create a long-term buying opportunity, while options activity and a reported institutional purchase of long-dated BAC call options pointed to bullish interest among some investors. Unusual Long-Dated BAC Call Options
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Brian Moynihan said Bank of America is addressing regulatory requirements and expects elevated remediation and software-patching expenses to decline over time. The bank hired about 1,000 contractors to help fix software vulnerabilities identified through Anthropic’s Mythos testing. Bank of America Software-Patching Costs
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted EPS was $1.08 versus the $1.10 consensus, while revenue of roughly $30.0 billion missed estimates near $30.6 billion. Reported net income fell 17% to $6.9 billion, or $0.91 per share, after the regulatory charge. Bank of America Earnings Miss
• Negative Sentiment: Regulators imposed approximately $1.21 billion in penalties over anti-money-laundering, Bank Secrecy Act, and sanctions-compliance failures, including failures to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. The non-tax-deductible charge reduced quarterly earnings by about $0.17 per share and intensified concerns that compliance problems may persist. Bank of America Regulatory Penalties
• Negative Sentiment: Expenses rose faster than revenue, pushing the adjusted efficiency ratio to about 62% from 60%. Bond-trading revenue fell 17%, investment-banking and trading results disappointed, and provisions for credit losses reached $1.3 billion. Hotter-than-expected inflation and several shareholder-law-firm investigations added to the cautious backdrop.

Bank of America Company Profile

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is a diversified financial services company serving individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its principal businesses include consumer banking, wealth and investment management, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and sales and trading.

Through its banking and financial services businesses, the company offers deposit accounts, credit cards, mortgages, home equity products, consumer and business loans, payment services, treasury management, brokerage services and investment advice.