Firestone Capital Management Boosts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Firestone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,997 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 388 shares during the quarter. Firestone Capital Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% in 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 valued at $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 959.6% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447,091 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $261,923,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $39.10 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $305.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. 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 (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 company had revenue of $25.38 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total transaction of $68,114,452.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 861,175,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,076,699,933.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total transaction of $68,114,452.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 861,175,131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,076,699,933.67. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 114,391,986 shares of company stock valued at $4,719,796,383 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

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.