Welch Group LLC Buys 686 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Welch Group LLC grew its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,521,218,000 after purchasing an additional 803,570 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Bank of America by 45.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,637,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413,313 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Bank of America by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,333,351,000 after purchasing an additional 188,638 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in Bank of America by 2.4% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 12,970,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $541,250,000 after purchasing an additional 300,944 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BAC shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. HSBC lifted their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Phillip Securities cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.64.

Bank of America Stock Down 2.4%

NYSE BAC opened at $48.62 on Monday. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $52.88. The company has a 50 day moving average of $49.61 and a 200-day moving average of $45.54. The company has a market cap of $360.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change 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%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.