Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Acquired by Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.

Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $574,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 111,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,654,000 after buying an additional 8,435 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 64.9% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,179 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 42,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $92,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $51.28 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.82. The firm has a market cap of $379.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $52.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.52%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.29.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.