E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 6,355 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 16.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,355 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 period. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays boosted 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 report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 114,391,986 shares of company stock valued at $4,719,796,383. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $39.58 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $44.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.80. The stock has a market cap of $309.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company 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 is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.