Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Acquired by Mather Group LLC.

Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 30.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,182 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in Bank of America by 360.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in Bank of America by 1,071.8% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $474,150,000 after acquiring an additional 12,880,492 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 56,538,765 shares of company stock worth $2,403,399,367 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $36.90. 40,601,435 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,690,047. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. The stock has a market cap of $286.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.43 and a 200-day moving average of $37.57.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 33.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Wolfe Research upgraded Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.07.

Bank of America 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.