Patron Partners LLC Grows Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Patron Partners LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 8.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 13,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,099 shares during the quarter. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $634,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 4.4% during the second quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Centurion Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Centurion Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Nova Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 75.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 1.9% during the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 12,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maia Wealth LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.4% during the first quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 17,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $723,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Baird R W lowered Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related 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 value of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.3%

BAC opened at $51.84 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.06 and a 12 month high of $52.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $48.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.81. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $384.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 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 declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.