FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Reduces Stock Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co trimmed its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,387 shares during the quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 17 Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 30.2% in the 2nd quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590 shares during the last quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. now owns 6,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 1,283 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in Bank of America by 26.1% during the 2nd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 4,217,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $199,584,000 after buying an additional 873,264 shares during the period. Forge First Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter worth $4,870,000. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 0.6% during the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 242,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,476,000 after buying an additional 1,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Daiwa Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Bank of America from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their target price on Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.77.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $52.04 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.29. 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 one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $54.69. The firm has a market cap of $379.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

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

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.52%.

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.