Ballentine Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 138,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,193 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,255,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 959.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,948,000 after buying an additional 8,447,091 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Down 2.8 %

BAC traded down $1.11 on Friday, hitting $38.76. The company had a trading volume of 47,007,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,322,148. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.52. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $303.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.41, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.22.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 112,670,620 shares of company stock valued at $4,651,681,930. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America 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.