Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Sold by Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.

Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 5.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $28,000. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 585.4% during the second quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Acima Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $52.44 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.31. The stock has a market cap of $388.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 30.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America 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 directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Bank of America to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.23.

About Bank of America

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.