Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Up 1.7%

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s share price was up 1.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $37.29 and last traded at $37.26. Approximately 9,807,443 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 39,485,000 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.65.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.07.

Bank of America Price Performance

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 firm has a market capitalization of $298.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.60.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,549,666 shares of company stock valued at $2,403,801,723. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BAC. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.