Argyle Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Argyle Capital Management LLC cut its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 92,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up about 1.6% of Argyle Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Argyle Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Nova Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% in the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. RMG Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 233.6% in the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 743 shares during the period. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% in the first quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Baird R W lowered shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.11.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $49.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.46. The stock has a market cap of $368.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.