Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Has $10.61 Million Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 224,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,064 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Common Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 259,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,288,000 after purchasing an additional 24,740 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 121.0% during 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. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 7.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at $998,000. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 65,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,714,000 after purchasing an additional 17,619 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Phillip Securities downgraded Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.64.

Bank of America Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $48.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $360.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $49.61 and its 200 day moving average is $45.52. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $52.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. 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 yield of 2.3%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.