Advisors Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 10.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,737 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $7,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 1,489.3% in the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,420,599 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.39, for a total transaction of $229,779,191.61. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 980,061,561 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,544,809,570.79. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 36,753,983 shares of company stock worth $1,588,489,324 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded down $0.01 on Friday, reaching $41.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 52,039,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,920,254. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $44.44. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.17. The company has a market cap of $325.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board 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. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. 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. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, HSBC restated a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.92.

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.