Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stake Cut by Vaughan David Investments LLC IL

Vaughan David Investments LLC IL cut its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 8.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,712 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 402.2% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the first quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 1,489.3% in the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 834 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 36,753,983 shares of company stock valued at $1,588,489,324 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.19. 36,506,366 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,822,180. The stock has a market capitalization of $329.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.14. 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 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

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

Bank of America Company 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.