Legacy Private Trust Co. Cuts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Legacy Private Trust Co. lessened its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 120,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,758 shares during the period. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 37,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Integrity Financial Corp WA boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% in the third quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 12,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 1.8% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 13,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Bank of America from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.50.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $46.21. 39,531,044 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 32,043,459. The company’s 50 day moving average is $45.30 and its 200 day moving average is $42.09. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $31.27 and a one year high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $354.56 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The business’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.