Kestra Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 19,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $785,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BAC. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 839.0% in 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 last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $39.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.07. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $310.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BAC. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.12.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,942,405 shares of company stock valued at $5,785,202,516 over the last three months. 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.