MJP Associates Inc. ADV Lowers Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV trimmed its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 688 shares during the quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.5% in the second quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 0.3% during the first quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 108,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,115,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Round Hill Asset Management lifted its position in Bank of America by 2.2% during the first quarter. Round Hill Asset Management now owns 14,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CKW Financial Group grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 20,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $753,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Cfra restated a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given 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, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.07.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.28. The company had a trading volume of 26,411,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,617,418. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.71. 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 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. The company has a market capitalization of $299.36 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, 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 issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 56,549,666 shares of company stock valued at $2,403,801,723. Insiders own 0.29% 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.