Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C Purchases Shares of 6,029 Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 140,942,405 shares of company stock worth $5,785,202,516. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $39.40 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.02. The firm has a market cap of $308.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $44.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.