Fiduciary Alliance LLC Makes New Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 6,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Bank of America by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in Bank of America by 360.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after buying an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1,071.8% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $474,150,000 after acquiring an additional 12,880,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction 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 $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,549,666 shares of company stock worth $2,403,801,723. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BAC. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.07.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded up $0.39 on Wednesday, hitting $37.31. 44,938,804 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,724,449. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $291.78 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.60.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

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.