Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) is Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s 8th Largest Position

Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,738,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 41,885 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up 1.3% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $148,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,363,928,000 after acquiring an additional 2,935,040 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after acquiring an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 112,670,620 shares of company stock valued at $4,651,681,930. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Trading Down 2.8 %

BAC traded down $1.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.76. 47,007,588 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,322,148. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.49. The firm has a market cap of $303.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year 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.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays increased their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.22.

About Bank of America

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.