Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 3.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,412,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 483,564 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $702,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. DecisionMap Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. DecisionMap Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp grew its position in Bank of America by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 4,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Holistic Financial Partners increased its stake in Bank of America by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 7,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Operose Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 20,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 19,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $59.49 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $422.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average of $54.62 and a 200-day moving average of $52.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.75 and a 1-year high of $60.83.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.11. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.49% and a net margin of 16.78%.The business had revenue of $30.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.72%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider Geoffrey S. Greener sold 126,756 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value of $6,719,335.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,373,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,803,774.97. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expanded its regional investment banking business by hiring nine senior bankers across major U.S. markets, a move that should strengthen its middle-market coverage and support fee growth over time. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Several previews suggest Bank of America could benefit from strong trading, investment banking, and wealth-management activity, with analysts expecting a broadly favorable second-quarter bank earnings season. Investor’s Business Daily article
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America’s own consumer data showed strong June card spending and wage gains, reinforcing the view that its retail banking base remains resilient heading into earnings. Yahoo Finance article
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation screens highlighted BAC as the most attractive of the major banks, which may be helping support the stock as investors look for a relative-value play ahead of results. 247WallSt article

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BAC. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Bank of America from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.19.

Bank of America Profile

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.