MRA Advisory Group Purchases Shares of 4,458 Bank of America Corporation $BAC

MRA Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 860,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,797,000 after buying an additional 226,246 shares during the period. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $896,000. Stonebrook Private Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 18,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 804 shares during the period. Finally, TrinityPoint Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 37,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,632,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $50.60 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $48.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.28. Bank of America Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.06 and a 52-week high of $50.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $374.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.80, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. 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. 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 announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC cut Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Hsbc Global Res cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price target on Bank of America and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About Bank of America

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.