Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Has $59.48 Million Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lowered its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,495,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 66,955 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises about 0.5% of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $59,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 839.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 112,670,620 shares of company stock worth $4,651,681,930. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE BAC traded down $1.11 on Friday, reaching $38.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 47,007,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,322,148. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $303.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.52.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released 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 company 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 company’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. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

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

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 dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

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.