Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,965 shares during the period. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. American National Bank & Trust Co. VA bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth approximately $1,322,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in Bank of America by 27.1% during the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,734,000 after purchasing an additional 20,916 shares during the last quarter. Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter worth $771,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 37.7% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 54,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,163,000 after purchasing an additional 14,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 11.5% during the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 196,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,628,000 after purchasing an additional 20,309 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.69.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC traded down $0.76 on Friday, hitting $41.89. 27,466,909 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,639,859. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.58. 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 Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $325.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 125,336,839 shares of company stock worth $5,049,968,704. Corporate 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.