Bank of America Corporation $BAC Position Trimmed by Westpac Banking Corp

Westpac Banking Corp lowered its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 41.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 94,937 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $6,259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,007,718,000 after buying an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Unisphere Establishment raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1,642.5% in the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 4,195,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $175,057,000 after acquiring an additional 3,954,250 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth $164,623,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth $152,098,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Bank of America by 62.9% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 8,904,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,564,000 after purchasing an additional 3,438,876 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BAC shares. Seaport Global Securities boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.86.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $52.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $383.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $54.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.05.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The company had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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

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.