Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Increases Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 70.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,641,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,501,073 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises about 1.3% of Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $144,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 402.2% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of BAC opened at $39.45 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The company has a market capitalization of $306.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.65, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,941,403 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $197,359,635.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 820,719,071 shares in the company, valued at $32,779,519,695.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,941,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $197,359,635.82. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 820,719,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,779,519,695.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 134,722,127 shares of company stock valued at $5,539,949,341. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.