Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 213,249 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 78.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 485,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 213,249 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $19,291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 7.4% in the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 931,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,057,000 after purchasing an additional 64,097 shares during the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.2% in the second quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 46,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,309 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 23.1% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 361,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,363,000 after purchasing an additional 67,735 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.7% in the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 15,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the second quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 47,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,891,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $38.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 47,007,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,322,148. The firm has a market capitalization of $303.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.49. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $44.44.

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 company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 112,670,620 shares of company stock valued at $4,651,681,930 in the last three months. Corporate 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.