Valley National Advisers Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $520,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,521,218,000 after acquiring an additional 803,570 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,637,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413,313 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,333,351,000 after purchasing an additional 188,638 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 12,970,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $541,250,000 after purchasing an additional 300,944 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $50.36 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.35. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $52.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $373.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the sale, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.38.

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.