Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV Increases Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV raised its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4,414.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,654,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $194,212,000 after acquiring an additional 4,550,930 shares in the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 23.3% in the first quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 13.2% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 215,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,995,000 after acquiring an additional 25,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allied Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.4% in the first quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC now owns 307,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,832,000 after acquiring an additional 13,056 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 target price on shares of Bank of America and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.92.

Insider Activity 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 shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $52.21 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $386.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.34. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $52.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $49.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.97. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.75%.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.