Boston Partners Sells 770,641 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Boston Partners decreased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 10.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,778,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 770,641 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned approximately 0.09% of Bank of America worth $257,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 402.2% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 1,489.3% during the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.58. 76,727,990 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 42,436,524. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $44.44. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $291.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.77%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 33.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,264,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.20, for a total value of $216,901,561.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 961,646,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,619,844,658. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,538,765 shares of company stock worth $2,403,399,367. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on BAC shares. Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.07.

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.