Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 162,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,092 shares during the period. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $6,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 56,549,666 shares of company stock valued at $2,403,801,723. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Cfra reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of 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. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.07.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of BAC traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 26,886,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,278,254. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.86. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The company has a market cap of $307.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.