Swedbank AB Grows Stake in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Swedbank AB raised its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 1.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,932,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 156,232 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises approximately 0.7% of Swedbank AB’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $539,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $53.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on Bank of America and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. HSBC cut Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Baird R W lowered Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Sixteen investment 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 $50.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $50.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $48.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.23. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $50.96. The firm has a market cap of $375.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.34.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management 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.