Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Bought by Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc.

Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 19,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the first 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,408,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,363,928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,935,040 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 49,545,245 shares of company stock worth $2,119,252,649 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded up $0.19 on Tuesday, reaching $41.28. 44,148,485 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,959,727. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $322.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.48 and a 200-day moving average of $37.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. 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 dividend yield of 2.52%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

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

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.