Aspen Investment Management Inc Increases Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Aspen Investment Management Inc increased its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Aspen Investment Management Inc’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,449,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 76,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,179,000 after acquiring an additional 6,203 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 32,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 3,506 shares during the last quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 49,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,052,000 after acquiring an additional 2,641 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Bank of America by 39.5% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 559,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,344,000 after acquiring an additional 158,528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 20,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $876,000 after acquiring an additional 723 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.39.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE:BAC opened at $50.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $372.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.34. Bank of America Corporation has a one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $50.92. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $48.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.15.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.