AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Acquires 118,909 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 30.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 507,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 118,909 shares during the quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $23,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Common Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 259,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,288,000 after purchasing an additional 24,740 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 121.0% in the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 62,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 33,963 shares in the last quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC now owns 6,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth about $287,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 169,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,787 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Phillip Securities cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.64.

Bank of America Trading Up 2.4%

BAC opened at $50.04 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $370.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $52.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly 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. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. Analysts predict 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 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 shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.