Bank of America Corporation $BAC Stake Increased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 7.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 333,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,803 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $15,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 803,570 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% during the first 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the first 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 holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.4% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 12,970,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $541,250,000 after purchasing an additional 300,944 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BAC. Baird R W cut shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.11.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:BAC opened at $49.82 on Thursday. Bank of America Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.06 and a 12 month high of $52.88. The firm has a market cap of $369.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company’s 50 day moving average is $49.50 and its 200-day moving average is $45.42.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding 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 typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.75%.

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.