Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,412,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 483,564 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Bank of America worth $702,593,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 40.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,401 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,174 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 38.4% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 65,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,108,000 after acquiring an additional 18,227 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $1,396,000. Finally, Vivaldi Capital Management LP lifted its position in Bank of America by 4.2% in the second quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 8,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expanded its regional investment banking business by hiring nine senior bankers across major U.S. markets, a move that should strengthen its middle-market coverage and support fee growth over time. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Several previews suggest Bank of America could benefit from strong trading, investment banking, and wealth-management activity, with analysts expecting a broadly favorable second-quarter bank earnings season. Investor’s Business Daily article
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America’s own consumer data showed strong June card spending and wage gains, reinforcing the view that its retail banking base remains resilient heading into earnings. Yahoo Finance article
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation screens highlighted BAC as the most attractive of the major banks, which may be helping support the stock as investors look for a relative-value play ahead of results. 247WallSt article

Bank of America Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of BAC stock opened at $59.49 on Tuesday. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $44.75 and a twelve month high of $60.83. The company has a market capitalization of $422.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $54.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $30.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.72 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 27.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider Geoffrey S. Greener sold 126,756 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $6,719,335.56. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,373,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,803,774.97. This represents a 8.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on BAC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Bank of America from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. HSBC increased their price objective on Bank of America from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $57.50 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.19.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.