Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. Boosts Stake in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 4.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 521 shares during the period. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Common Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% in the second quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 259,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,288,000 after buying an additional 24,740 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,589,000 after acquiring an additional 33,963 shares during the period. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC now owns 6,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $287,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 3.5% during the second quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 169,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,787 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BAC. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price (up from $57.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $51.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $379.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $52.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $50.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.82.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $28.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.52%.

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

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.