Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 21.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,733 shares during the quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Boston Common Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 259,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,288,000 after purchasing an additional 24,740 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 121.0% in the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 62,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 33,963 shares in the last quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC now owns 6,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 1st quarter worth approximately $998,000. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 65,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,714,000 after purchasing an additional 17,619 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the sale, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $49.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $52.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $49.55 and its 200 day moving average is $45.46. The firm has a market cap of $368.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.75%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.