Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Acquired by Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 275,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,723 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $2,175,000. IMA Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at $1,453,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 149.9% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 12,744 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $1,363,928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,935,040 shares during the period. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $3,601,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on BAC shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $39.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $309.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $44.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, 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 114,391,986 shares of company stock worth $4,719,796,383. Company 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.