Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 439 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 439 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased 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 buying an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Down 4.9 %

Shares of BAC stock traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $37.58. 76,727,990 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 42,436,524. 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 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $44.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.46.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 2.77%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.22%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,993,520 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $284,146,717.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 948,077,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,520,401,217.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 56,538,765 shares of company stock valued at $2,403,399,367 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.