Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Purchased by Cohen Investment Advisors LLC

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,064 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises approximately 2.2% of Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,521,218,000 after acquiring an additional 803,570 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,007,718,000 after acquiring an additional 14,960,086 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,637,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413,313 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,333,351,000 after acquiring an additional 188,638 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.4% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 12,970,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $541,250,000 after acquiring an additional 300,944 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.11.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $49.82 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $369.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.06 and a 12 month high of $52.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. Analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan 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 buy up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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 is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.75%.

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.