Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Sold by Greenwood Gearhart Inc.

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 6.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 719 shares during the period. Greenwood Gearhart Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nova Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 75.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. HighMark Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 233.6% in the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Down 2.4%

Bank of America stock opened at $48.62 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $52.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $49.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.50. The company has a market capitalization of $360.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on BAC. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.64.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.