Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Purchased by Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares during the period. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Nova Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Acima Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the first quarter worth $40,000. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 233.6% during the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 743 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $48.62 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.06 and a 52-week high of $52.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $360.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its 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. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase 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 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.64.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.