Washington Growth Strategies LLC Buys New Stake in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Washington Growth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 32,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,000. Bank of America accounts for about 1.2% of Washington Growth Strategies LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its holdings 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 valued at $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 33,963 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth $998,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 37.2% in the first quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 65,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,714,000 after acquiring an additional 17,619 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 170.5% in the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 238,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,951,000 after acquiring an additional 150,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.3% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 1,124,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,936,000 after acquiring an additional 25,618 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.38.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $50.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $374.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.26. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $52.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

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 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 in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

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.