Alta Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $227,000 Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Alta Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 21,465,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,983,000 after purchasing an additional 954,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after buying an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of BAC opened at $42.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $330.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.64, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $39.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 144,633,120 shares of company stock worth $5,862,871,640. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.