National Pension Service Increases Stake in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,536,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,375 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $885,266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 5,515.7% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 586,149,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,398,802,000 after purchasing an additional 575,711,933 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $4,774,210,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Bank of America by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 57,619,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,169,062,000 after buying an additional 2,929,779 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 53,783,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,958,110,000 after buying an additional 1,105,833 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 47,172,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,594,488,000 after buying an additional 2,611,776 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Key Bank of America News

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

• Positive Sentiment: An analysis argues that Bank of America’s valuation remains attractive, potentially supporting the shares if earnings and profitability continue to improve. Bank of America: The Valuation Still Works
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America’s research team remains constructive on technology and artificial-intelligence beneficiaries, including SK hynix and Meta Platforms. This highlights the strength of BofA’s investment-banking and research franchise, although the calls do not directly change BAC’s earnings outlook. Bank of America Is Bullish on SK hynix Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory filings show Bank of America or controlled entities holding more than 5% of QIAGEN and Hateks. These disclosures appear to reflect investment or client-related positions and are not evidence of a material change to BAC’s core business. Bank of America Reveals Indirect Stake in QIAGEN Bank of America Lifts Stake in Hateks
• Negative Sentiment: Weakness in preferred shares issued by BAC and other major banks suggests investors are pricing in interest rates remaining elevated. Higher-for-longer rates can raise funding costs and weigh on bond portfolios and valuation multiples. Bank Preferred Stocks Are Sending a Warning About Interest Rates

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Bank of America from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Bank of America from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.08.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.6%

BAC stock opened at $62.77 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $61.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.43. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $46.12 and a fifty-two week high of $65.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $438.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.15.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $31.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.78 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.68 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 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 29.36%.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is a diversified financial services company serving individual consumers, businesses, institutional investors and governments. Its operations include consumer banking, credit and debit cards, mortgages, small-business banking, commercial banking, investment banking, securities trading and investment management.

The company provides consumer and wealth-management services through Bank of America and Merrill, including deposit accounts, lending, brokerage, retirement planning, financial advice and private banking.