Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Takes Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 7,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.4% in the second quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Centurion Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $467,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Nova Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% during the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.9% in the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 12,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rainier Family Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.9% in the second quarter. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. now owns 6,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. HSBC boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Nineteen 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, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.6%

BAC stock opened at $50.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $373.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $52.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $49.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Company 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.