Wealthfront Advisers LLC Acquires 58,134 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 908,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 58,134 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $42,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 8.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 111,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,654,000 after purchasing an additional 8,435 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,007,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,119,000 after acquiring an additional 133,813 shares during the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 11.1% in the first quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 50,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,103,000 after purchasing an additional 5,040 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 21.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,495,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $103,533,000 after acquiring an additional 442,280 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $52.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $388.38 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $52.88.

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

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.52%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 buy up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 17th. Phillip Securities boosted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Bank of America from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Bank of America to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.