Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 860,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,797,000 after buying an additional 226,246 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 110,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,849,000 after buying an additional 4,148 shares during the period. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 89,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,920,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on BAC. Wall Street Zen cut Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Cowen began coverage on Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Phillip Securities cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 target price on Bank of America and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.13.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:BAC opened at $48.2350 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.84. The stock has a market cap of $357.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.31. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $49.31. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 currently 32.75%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Company 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.