Argent Trust Co Boosts Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Argent Trust Co grew its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 265,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,131 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% during 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 valued at $1,255,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,198,846 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in Bank of America by 959.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447,091 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at $261,923,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $39.58 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $309.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly 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. 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 company’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Cfra reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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. In other Bank of America 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 114,391,986 shares of company stock worth $4,719,796,383. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.