Azora Capital LP Sells 378,800 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Azora Capital LP reduced its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,965,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 378,800 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up 6.3% of Azora Capital LP’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Azora Capital LP’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $140,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Nova Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 246.5% in the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. RMG Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth $28,000. CGC Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 585.4% during the second quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acima Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of BAC stock opened at $53.52 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $390.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58 and a beta of 1.30. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $54.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Bank of America from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target (up previously from $57.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.77.

Bank of America Profile

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.