Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Acquired by AMF Tjanstepension AB

AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 62.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,904,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,438,876 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up 2.8% of AMF Tjanstepension AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. AMF Tjanstepension AB owned 0.12% of Bank of America worth $421,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Apexium Financial LP grew its holdings in Bank of America by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 15,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Bank OH boosted its stake in Bank of America by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 20,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $967,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 34,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,621 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,036,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,068,000 after acquiring an additional 57,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wallington Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 182,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,620,000 after acquiring an additional 1,560 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BAC. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.3%

Bank of America stock opened at $50.63 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.37 and its 200-day moving average is $45.26. 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 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $52.88. The company has a market cap of $374.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.80, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. This is a boost 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 authorized a stock buyback plan 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 purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.